Death Is Only The Beginning
by goofnutgav
Summary: You all know Alex Winston's story of how he wound up in a strange world, becoming the legacy of Kurama the Nine-Tailed Fox and raised a child by the name of Naruto. Come and see the story of what would happen if things went differently and Alex became Kurama at the time of his creation.
1. Chapter 1

Location unknown, date unknown.

Reincarnation and the multiverse theory, two fascinating subjects that humanity have been interested in since the dawn of our evolution. The theory of being reborn in a different person without any past memories of who you used to be or the theory of there being many different dimensions...two theories I had no idea were even possible until that fateful day. It's hazy, but it had all started like it was a normal day...I woke up, did my morning routine, went to work as one of L.A's finest, responded to a 211 turned hostage situation at the Valley Trust Bank, and got shot. I didn't know what had happened next, but I clearly remembered losing a lot of blood from getting hit in the neck and my pelvis and taken into an ambulance while falling into unconsciousness. At that point, I knew that I was dying but at least I died knowing I would see my dead friends again.

I didn't remember what happened after that, but I remember becoming warm...a tingly feeling, but I had no coherent thought about being warm. There was only instinct. Reason was long abandoned, no hunger, no worriment, and no pain. I knew I was warm, I didn't know how or why. My senses were dulled too, my ears heard nothing but the blood in my veins, I couldn't touch anything, I couldn't do anything, I didn't need food or water or anything, and I was content. Nothing to interfere with this pleasant, peaceful feeling and take it away from me.

Was I actually dead? I had felt the agony of getting shot, felt the cold feeling of losing too much blood, and now all I felt was as if I had been melted down. I ran my tongue over my teeth and flinched at the painful sensation of something cutting my tongue...and realized that my teeth were really sharp. I knew that I was dead...there was no question about that, but why were my teeth so sharp and why could I feel pain if I was dead? It felt like my teeth were as sharp like an animal and the inner cavern of my mouth felt...longer? What the hell was going on? I tried to open my mouth, only to discover that it was restrained in a strange way. Why were my teeth razor sharp and where was the entrance to Heaven?

Suddenly, an intense pain ripped through me and it felt like a huge piece of my soul was being forcibly torn into eight pieces and taken away from me. It felt like my heart was exploding while my brain was melting. I was so afraid of what was happening to me while I felt numb all over and fell unconscious.

When I awoke after an unknown amount of time, I was dimly aware of being inside a dark circular room with a dim light shining down on me, but what caught my attention was that I was literally standing on water.

 _"What the hell? Standing on water?"_ I thought in complete bafflement just as a low chuckle rang out throughout the room, causing me to tense up and look around.

"You must be very confused, I apologize for that inconvenience," a deep voice said calmly as a man with strange purple spiral eyes approached from the shadows.

My training kicked in as I analyzed the man, seeing him with pale skin, a red eye on his forehead and horns, a goatee, and pale brown hair with one lock that was braided and hanging chin-length in front of his left ear. The man was wearing a white, full-lengthed kimono with a foreign pattern on the high collar and had a necklace of the same shape of the pattern. The man also had a sword strapped to his back and he was holding an odd looking cane with a circle on top and four rings draping off of it. I didn't understand what I was seeing right now, but I knew I had to take this man with extreme caution since I didn't know who he was or if he had good intentions.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously, testing the waters since I didn't want to come off as too impolite or too polite because this stranger could be the very person who could send me to Heaven or Hell. Besides, this all could be a coma dream and he could be nothing more than a hallucination.

"My name is Hagoromo Otsutsuki, but I am known as the Sage Of Six Paths," Hagoromo introduced while he smiled up at me, and I noticed that I towered over him as I leaned down closer to get more of a good look at him.

 _"What the hell? Why am I bigger than him? Something's wrong,"_ I thought uneasily as I realized that my body felt all wrong like my face and ears seemed longer, my lower body didn't feel right, and I felt a strange alien sensation that there were multiple appendages attached to my spine.

"Where...am I?" I questioned carefully with a frown.

"You are inside a seal in my mind," Hagoromo stated and I stared at him like he had two heads.

"I'm sorry, what?" I wondered dubiously with a look of confusion and disbelief, and Hagoromo chuckled sheepishly.

"My apologies for not clarifying. I know that all this is a severe shock to you, so I'll start from the beginning. A long time ago, the world was terrorized by a monster known today as the Ten-Tails-" Hagoromo started to explain as he shifted his cane and sat down on the water.

"Forgive me for interrupting, but can I ask you a question?" I asked politely, causing the man to blink once but he gestured for me to go ahead, which I wondered, "How is it possible that we are standing on water?"

"I'll answer that question when we get there. My brother Hamura and I were given birth by a woman by the name Kaguya Otsutsuki, a once wise and kind woman who desired peace but used...controversial methods that would be considered ruthless in order to obtain that peace. Humanity regarded her with fear, awe, and reverence while declaring her as a god and worshiping her as the Rabbit Goddess. Eventually, she became corrupted by power and committed...atrocities while being driven mad. We tried to reason with her but she turned against us, merging with a monstrous tree called the God Tree and becoming a monster known as the Ten-Tails. The Ten-Tails rampaged throughout the land for years until Hamura and I challenged the beast that used to be our mother. Knowing that the kind and caring mother we knew was too far gone to be reasoned with, we fought against the Ten-Tails until we were able to gain the upper hand and sealed the beast's chakra inside me. Hamura took the remains to the sky where it became what is now called the moon. I became the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki while my brother stayed on the moon to keep watch over the beast's remains, and I traveled all over the land to give humanity the knowledge of chakra so that they would use it to ensure that peace still remains-" Hagoromo explained but I cut him off.

"Sorry for interrupting, but what kind of drug are you on?" I inquired skeptically.

"Excuse me?" Hagoromo asked in confusion, and I could see that he was being serious.

"You truly believe what you just said? How is it physically possible that some monster's corpse became the moon and you sealed it inside yourself? Because what you just described defies any kind of logic. And what the fuck is chakra? What I want to know if you are either going to take me to Heaven or cast me into Hell for my sins," I stated, and Hagoromo just blinked up stupidly at me with a look of complete bewilderment and confusion.

"You think you're...dead?" Hagoromo wondered.

"I'm pretty sure since I remember getting shot and I bled out. I hardly felt it, but I know the EMTs used an AED on me unless I'm in the hospital in some kind of coma and this is all nothing more than a bizarre hallucination. I'm sorry for being rude and what you described was a nice story, but can you please give me the honest truth? Because I'm not stupid," I demanded calmly with an arched brow.

"What's your name then?" Hagoromo inquired hesitantly, looking completely unsure.

"Alex Winston," I answered.

Hagoromo gripped his staff a bit tighter with a pensive look as he said, "It is good that you have started thinking about yourself in such an individual manner. However, I ask you to please describe yourself to me, if you will. This may pose to be a problem in the future."

"Um...no, not until you give me some answers on where I am. For all I know, you could be a demon that's here to cast me into Hell," I said suspiciously while I blinked.

"I assure you I am not a demon. Did you say that you were a human in this past life?" Hagoromo inquired.

"Last time I checked. What else did you think I was going to be, an animal?" I deadpanned sarcastically, and Hagoromo looked nervous about something.

"Perhaps...I should show you your reflection..." Hagoromo trailed off as he put a hand on the nearby wall and the room was suddenly lit up with a clear bright light, causing me to blink as the wall had changed into a gigantic circular mirror.

But it wasn't the mirror appearing out of nowhere that made my brain shut down...what made my brain shut down and struggle to process was in the mirror. Staring back at me in the mirror's reflection was a cute baby fox kit with orange/red fur, a vulpine head, long ears with black fur that covered the inside and trailed to my red eyes with slit pupils, a humanoid torso, arms, and clawed hands with animal paw-pads, strong canine back legs, and nine beautiful tails moving around like they had a mind of their own.

I didn't know how to process what I was seeing right now. How do you react when you wake up to see that you were in the form of an animal? What kind of animal had honest-to-God nine tails? Hell, what human goes through some kind of metamorphosis that transforms them into a hybrid of a fox and human after they die? As it clicked on what I was looking at, I raised a hand and waved, and the refection did the same thing.

For the first time, I looked down at myself and saw the orange/red fur covering me and I now knew why I was so much bigger than Hagoromo...I wasn't even human or the size of a human anymore. I turned to look at Hagoromo, and sat down on my hind legs and started to panic.

"What the fuck did you do to me?! How am I even talking right now?!" I screamed at him while starting to hyperventilate and looking at my hands in denial.

Hagoromo didn't say anything and stared at me with a calculating gaze and a practiced wariness which pissed me off to no end. Imagine this...you died and accepted it, but being put into some fucked up science experiment and looking like a freak of nature was completely nerve-wracking, even for a 35-year-old combat veteran that was a Los Angeles tactical police officer when he was alive. What had happened to my body? Who did this asshole think he was by doing this to me? Was I in a coma? Or did this bastard inject some kind of drug into me?

"Answer me, you son of a bitch! Why the hell am I even here?!" I snarled ferally while my fur bristled and my new tails thrashed around in agitation.

"I do not know why you are here at this point in time, but I would like to continue with my explanation and then hear your side of the story-" Hagoromo reasoned, but I snapped and saw red as I lunged at the small man, and the next thing I knew was that my head was being slammed into the ground and an unfamiliar weight sat on the top of my rather large head.

"Please...listen to me first and then I'll hear everything about your story and try to make things better, alright Alex? I know this must be hard for you, but for now you must trust me. I will try to help you in whatever way I can," Hagoromo murmured into my ear while I tried to struggle and buck him off, but he held me down firmly. I growled and grumbled for a while but I eventually calmed down.

Once I was quiet, Hagoromo started speaking again, "As I have said before, I sealed different pieces of the Ten-Tails into different parts of myself. From this raw chakra, it took form and made separately different conscious minds and bodies...nine different Tailed Beasts, your brothers, your sisters, and you. As the chakra manifested, it picked up things from the world that I see with my own eyes, such as instincts, language, emotions. But beyond that, it did not grant me much else."

I stewed over the information I had learned which actually explained a lot, but why was I here? And more importantly, where was here? I wanted to question him again, but I didn't dare due to the fear of getting my muzzle slammed into the water again, which was surprisingly hard for a liquid. Hagoromo would explain and I needed to rely on my military training so that I could stay calm and try to make the best of my situation.

"I also noticed the chakra shaped the bodies in order from your brother the One-Tail, to you the Nine-Tails," Hagoromo finished and I frowned thoughtfully.

"Do they all...look like me?" I inquired curiously, wondering if maybe my new siblings were people who had died in different ways and wound up in this awkward situation as I had.

"No, they are quite unique and they all have keen distinctive personalities," Hagoromo explained, and I heard the smile in his voice.

I stared at my reflection, seeing his crouched figure on top of my head. I thought back to the time when I floated in that endless dark space and wondered if that was what he was referring to.

"How long? How long did it take for the chakra to evolve?" I questioned hesitantly, hoping that he wasn't going to give me any bad news.

"For each tail, it took a year which is another curious thing. Each of you developed tails at the same time, but when one of you reached the limit of that chakra space, you awoke into consciousness. You are the last, so nine years," Hagoromo stated.

If I didn't have any fur right now, I would be as white as a sheet from the revelation that was just thrown at me. I had been asleep for nine years in this new form I was in? Or had I just been replaced with my own? Did my co-workers move on? Did my brother Ryan get the news since he was an ER doctor in Washington DC? How did my parents take the news? Was there a way to contact them to let them know that I was alive? There were so many questions that resolved me to find the answers. A lot could've changed in nine years and this Kaguya might've been a scientist in Japan who discovered this 'chakra', was treated like a god because of it, and she went crazy from the implication of holding so much power in her hands. She could've experimented on many people and herself until she transformed into this Ten-Tailed monster that rampaged throughout the world, and world governments, militaries, and many law enforcement agencies failed to stop her so her sons managed to seal her body inside the moon and her chakra inside one of themselves.

"May I see some of this...chakra?" I asked hesitantly, wondering if he was going to say no because of how crazy this all was...but then again, my body had morphed into a fox with an upper-body structure of a human and I had felt pain when I accidentally cut my tongue with my teeth, so this wasn't a dream and basically nothing would surprise me anymore.

Hagoromo made some kind of hand sign and I was suddenly falling into the now not so solid water which forced me to start swimming. I glared at Hagoromo, who was standing comfortably on top of the water with a little mischievous smile.

"Ha ha...very funny, smartass. What the hell was that for?" I questioned dryly.

"A demonstration. I was regulating chakra not just to myself and the water, but to you as well. I simply cut off the chakra flow," Hagoromo explained.

"Is that what you meant by explaining how we were standing on the water?" I inquired after sighing.

"I'll teach you how to use it. However, I think you should start telling me about your own lifecycle now," Hagoromo stated with a soft smile.

"Can I at least get out of the water first?" I asked tiredly, wanting to get some form of rest after being killed, waking up in a new form, meeting a man that can do things that are considered fantasy, and also getting soaked in the process. I was miserable and wet fur didn't make me feel any better due to the rough day I'd had. I was also in a bad mood because of what I was put through.

"You should try standing on the water yourself," Hagoromo encouraged.

"By using this "chakra", right?" I inquired while making quotation marks with both hands and I added, "I have no idea how I'm supposed to do that."

"Concentrate by focusing deep inside of yourself and search for the nearly endless chakra that's inside you. Once you do that, take off a small portion and will it towards your paws," Hagoromo instructed calmly.

I did as he said and closed my eyes, searching deep inside me until I felt an unimaginable power that I was unable to describe. I gasped at the intoxicating feeling the rose up and I focused on drawing a small portion of chakra but I suddenly shot up out of the water unexpectedly and crashed into the ceiling painfully, slowly peeling myself off and falling back into the murky depths.

"Argh, son of a...God, that hurt...what the hell happened?" I wondered painfully after I surfaced.

"You used too much chakra. When you drew on too much, it made you jump too high and you injured yourself by accident. Be careful with your chakra Alex, and center it toward your paws, like you are wrapping your paws in papyrus," Hagoromo lectured.

"Why the hell would I-that doesn't even make any sense," I stated in disbelief while I sweat-dropped.

"Try using less chakra, foxy," Hagoromo sighed, looking exasperated and I bristled at the demeaning nickname.

"What the fuck did you just call me?! I am not a mindless animal, I'm an adult human male!" I growled in indignation while I slowly rose to tower over him and my tails thrashed around, though my current form said otherwise.

"But look...you are standing," Hagoromo pointed out with that irritating smile.

I looked down and saw that I wasn't quite standing on the water, but my pawed hands were resting on the surface and most of my body was out of the water.

 _"That little...he pissed me off on purpose,"_ I thought in surprise.

I knew that I was usually much calmer and more professional than I currently was behaving, but something about this new body had shortened my temper and I was really not a happy camper at the moment.

I shook it off and closed my eyes again, feeling the chakra going to my back paws and I sent a tad more to give me more leverage. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was standing on the water again.

"Good. You'll learn much faster than a human will because of your enormous chakra reserves, but you will also have much difficulty controlling your chakra because of it. That's why I'm here to help you," Hagoromo complemented me.

"You said that the Ten-Tails was monstrous...does that mean I'm a monster too?" I changed the subject, my fur soaking wet and feeling like I had three winter coats on at once.

"Even though your form is descended from a monster, it doesn't mean you are. Monsters are not in the appearance but in their personality. However, you are a Tailed Beast and there is a difference," Hagoromo said wisely.

"So I'm...evil then?" I asked uncomfortably.

"No. No one has to be evil, they only choose to be," Hagoromo said while softening his eyes.

Everything went silent as I contemplated his answer, my tails twitching slightly around us. It was bizarre...it felt like it was completely normal to me. In fact, I wouldn't have noticed if Hagoromo hadn't pointed it out to me. Now that I had the time to work out which nerves control them, my tails felt like extra limbs that were coming out of my spine...like nine arms coming out of my spine. It should've felt uncomfortable or embarrassing to me, but it felt...natural at the same time and I knew that I needed to adapt to this rapid change in my life or I would go insane and wouldn't survive the first day.

"Okay...I'll tell you everything," I decided and started to explain.

I told him everything about how I grew up with two parents and a younger brother. I told him about how I was a cop for 10 years and that I had served my country before that, also telling him that I had been discharged after a mission went horribly wrong and I lost good friends because of it. I told him that I loved reading, cooking, photography, and physical fitness. Lastly, I told him that I and my SWAT team had responded to a 211 turned hostage situation and I died in the resulting shootout between the perps. I told him that I could barely remember the EMTs trying to revive me on the way to the hospital, but I had lost too much blood to be brought back. While I had explained everything, Hagoromo was extremely patient with my story and didn't interrupt once until there was only silence after I was finished.

"This has never happened to you before?" Hagoromo asked after thinking for a while.

"No," I stated.

"As of now, I don't have an answer for you. However, I believe you should take advantage of the fact that you are indeed alive," Hagoromo suggested.

"But I'm-" I tried to protest.

"Not human? Changing form does not change the person, though there is one thing I would like to try if I may...?" Hagoromo trailed off.

I looked at him in confusion which made him clarify, "I have a certain sect I can perform to let me see your memories."

"If you can do that, then what was the point of me explaining everything to you?" I questioned.

"I believe you. However, I would like to see your life with my own eyes, because this situation is simply not probable under its usual circumstances," Hagoromo explained as he walked over to me, and I lowered my head to his height.

"I'm sorry, but can we not do that right now? I've just had my life upended and I'm simply not comfortable right now with the prospect of someone rooting around in my head," I offered uneasily and Hagoromo nodded in understanding.

"Yes, but for now you'll have to stay here in this body while I figure out what has happened," Hagoromo stated, and I ground my claws into the water pensively.

"How long?" I asked tentatively.

"However long it takes," Hagoromo told me seriously.

It was not until centuries later that I would discover the truth about why I was here. And by then, it would be too late.

* * *

A/N To explain on what's going on, this story is a what-if scenario on what would have happened if Alex was killed during the bank robbery shootout and his soul merged with Kurama's body during his creation. I also wanted to let you all know that not much will change canon-wise. Alex will suffer from humanity's hatred along with being controlled by Madara and Obito, and his personality will be similar to the original Kurama but Alex will be using cold logic and he'll analyze a situation to work for his benefit. One last thing is that Alex won't have a human form since there are some people who like that sort of thing.

Ps. How do you all think Alex's relationships with his new siblings and all three Jinchuriki will turn out? Let me know by either putting down a review or sending me a private message. Stay tuned.


	2. Chapter 2

Hagoromo's Mindscape, Date Unknown.

After Hagoromo created bookshelves full of oversized books and scrolls for me to read, I had asked him why he couldn't have made a tablet or a laptop and he looked at me in confusion while telling me to start with them. After he left and I had time to calm down and think about my situation, I started examining myself by touching my fur, muzzle, ears, and tails to see if there was the hope that all of this was a coma dream, but it had felt far too real for it to be a dream and that revelation made me take out my frustrations on the mirrors by attacking them. I was rightfully enraged at seeing that I looked like a freak since my life had been torn apart and I had been changed into this thing that was looking back at me, mocking my former humanity.

I scratched the mirror and my claws scattered shards of glass everywhere. I looked at my pawed hands and saw that the glass didn't even break the skin which made me even more pissed about how inhuman I was. I rammed my rather large head against the glass and it shattered as I felt so angry and frustrated at my misfortune. I knew that it was stupid of me to rip apart the walls in such a childish manner, but I felt so caged, so inhuman, and so much more...primal. The only thing that the glass actually scratched was my eyes, and I could feel ant-sized shards of glass sticking deep into my eyes, then I didn't feel any pain at all as the glass shot out and I watched in wonder with blurry vision as my injuries healed up in seconds, showing me just how inhuman I was.

I was a Tailed Beast, that was what Hagoromo said, but did that make me a demon because of it? My nine bushy tails fanned out behind me in a swift movement of anger and splashed the water around me, causing a huge wall of water to crash into me and soak me to the bone. Still, I would be judged by humanity and would be considered a demon...a monster because of how I looked. I believed Hagoromo when he said that you aren't a monster because of how you looked, it was the choices you made in life that makes you either a monster or a good person, but I certainly looked the part of a monster, didn't I?

I kept rampaging to get my pent up frustrations out of my system, smashing mirrors and destroying books by trying to shred them, burn them, and even eat them but the damn things regenerated. After a while, I stopped and laid down, panting from wasting my energy by rampaging and feeling tired because of it. I got up and looked around, seeing the books regenerating and the mirrors repairing themselves while I went over to one and started gripping my head, feeling insanity starting to set in and I slammed my hands on both sides of the mirror so that I could glare at myself sternly.

"Quit acting like a fucking pansy...you are one of LA's finest and a former Staff Sergeant of the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment...get a fucking grip, solder! Listen up Alex and listen well...you are going to get through this. You survived Mogadishu and you'll survive this. You will master this training and once you do, you will find your family and co-workers so that you can apologize..." I started to lecture to my reflection, but I trailed off as I realized that everyone I knew would be nine years older than I was and that they wouldn't recognize me in this form even if I found them, and that knowledge made me feel worse than I already was.

I shook my head and turned away from the mirror, heading to the bookshelves so that I could distract myself and gather intel on the current events. I took out a book and started reading about Hagoromo's theory of chakra, which was a really fascinating study. I looked through the knowledge of human chakra and my chakra, causing me to frown thoughtfully in apprehension.

"So...my chakra is highly volatile to humans? If that's the case, then what can I use it for?" I muttered to myself as I looked around the empty room, just as Hagoromo appeared behind me.

"Hello Alex, I see you are adjusting well," Hagoromo greeted while I stared at his reflection.

"Hello...I was wondering about something. If I'm a Tailed Beast like you said, does that make me some kind of demon? And will I be exorcized because of that?" I inquired while I tapped my claws on the mirror to elevate my boredom, and Hagoromo actually chuckled.

"I would like to see them try," Hagoromo stated in amusement and I smirked in response, but I frowned seriously after a few seconds.

"But I will be hunted down like some rabid animal?" I inquired.

"Eventually...maybe, but for different reasons. They won't be able to defeat you per se, but they will eventually be able to find a way to contain you, much like the seal on me did," Hagoromo explained after he nodded.

"So, assuming you'll let me out of your...seal, I should just lay low for a while?" I asked.

"You can do whatever you want but I just hope I can teach you some of my ways, though the answers to your questions...you'll have to discover on your own," Hogoromo lectured calmly and I nodded.

"Copy that," I agreed and Hagoromo looked muddled.

"What?" Hagoromo said in confusion.

"It's a military terminology that's used by the US Armed Forces and many Law Enforcement Agencies. You don't know what that is? What the hell has the world come to nowadays?" I sighed with a puff that disturbed my fur.

"About that Alex...I think I have a few theories but first, how has your training been going?" Hagoromo asked me.

"Um...you mean fruitlessly trying to destroy the mirrors?" I inquired sheepishly.

"I meant keeping your chakra activated while your mind is distracted but yes, I suppose so," Hagoromo clarified and my eyes widened in realization.

"That's right! I was standing on top of the water that entire time...wasn't I?" I wondered thoughtfully.

"Progress, either large or small is still progress," Hagoromo lectured wisely and I nodded in agreement.

"That's a very good point," I muttered under my breath and asked, "How long has it been since I woke up in here?"

"Ever since your awakening? You have been in here for the equivalent of five days, but it has been maybe nine hours out there," Hagoromo explained, which caused me to drop open my muzzle in shock.

"What? But it didn't even feel like that much time has passed in here...more like a good three to four hours have gone by. How is it possible that I'm not feeling hungry or tired?" I wondered in disbelief.

"You are not human anymore, Alex. While your spirit may think like a human, your spiritual energy has been mixed in with endless inhuman chakra. That other energy inside of you is not human and it doesn't need to eat, drink, sleep, or excrete. Unlike us humans, your chakra is continuous raw energy that constantly recycles over and over again. There are, however, the good and bad to this fact," Hagoromo explained, and I recoiled.

"I'm sorry, what?! You mean to tell me that I can't enjoy a nice juicy steak whenever I feel like it?" I questioned in horror.

"While I do not understand your references, I believe you are talking about nourishment and nutrition. You can still eat because you have a mouth and stomach, but other than that your digestive tract is nonexistent," Hagoromo told me.

"Seriously?" I asked curiously.

"Whatever you eat will be broken down in your stomach, absorbed immediately, and be converted into raw chakra," Hagoromo stated and I placed a hand on the bottom of my muzzle in interest.

"This is bizarre...another thing that proves that I'm not human. One more question. If more time passes by in here than out there, then what does that mean for my training?" I inquired.

"You will spend nearly centuries in here training on how to use your new form and chakra, while time in the real world will slow to a crawl," Hagoromo stated, and I looked at him in complete bafflement.

"Centuries? You can't be serious so how long are we really looking at? You are joking...right?" I asked dubiously.

"I am not and it will take centuries in here. I will teach you all that I know since I only taught your siblings about their chakra and how it works...they have a long way to go until they master this. However, you are a human reincarnate and I think it is best to teach you this world's customs if you want to blend in. You have a lot to learn Alex, and it will take a long time. I shall slow down the time in this part of the seal the most since you truly have numerous subjects to study," Hagoromo said seriously and I blinked in response.

"Well, I suppose I can't complain since who knows how much has changed while I was comatose for nine years. So, what am I going to be working on?" I asked patiently while sitting on my hind legs and paying attention.

"The first thing we are going to start with is behavior and diplomacy," Hagoromo said and I listened carefully.

And that was how my brutal training started and Hagoromo was by no means a kind teacher. While he was patient and encouraging, the training he had me do was even harsher than what I had learned in basic...if that was even possible. The first thing he would do whenever he entered my mirror room was to shift the place to meet any training ground needed for our requirements. So I trained in the mountains, the desert, which I hated because I nearly died of heatstroke due to my fur, the oceans, and I was surprised to find out that my new form didn't require me to actually breathe and I could move underwater just fine. I tried asking Hagoromo-sensei about the scientific's behind it, but he got confused when I talked about the anatomy and the cycles I knew. I didn't understand how someone so smart and who had all this power didn't even recognize the Kreb Cycle. I had tried talking to him about electronics, firearms, machines, cars, planes, and anything modernized but he'd just shake his head at me and would change the subject. I trained in every kind of place imaginable and Hagoromo even had me train in an imaginary village. With the village, I was hundreds of feet above the tallest building and I had asked Hagoromo-sensei that I hoped I wasn't going to get that big and he responded by saying that I might be, which didn't make me feel good at all.

With the "village training", I had to dodge every tiny miniature thing that was shot at me and I had lost count of how many simulated people I had killed by crushing them to death by stepping or falling on them by accident. Even though I knew it wasn't real, it still made me sick to my stomach and I knew I had to watch where I stepped once I was out of the seal. There were times when I was alone that I would distract myself by reading about Ninshu, history, and other things about the current world outside the seal. I was impressed at seeing how much knowledge Hagoromo-sensei had. Then Hagoromo-sensei had me walking up walls, pushups with my claws, learning how to jump hundreds of feet at a time, forming these roundish dark colored bombs that I would have the honor of naming them Tailed Beast Bombs, and he even taught me how to dodge by throwing knives at me. Even though they felt like tiny needles to me, he loved to throw them at my throat, my eyes, and painfully stab them right into my sensitive paw pads which hurt like hell.

Hagoromo-sensei also trained me in forming strange hand signs. He had me form my hands together in a hundred different ways and quizzed me over and over on what they were, how they worked, why they worked. He called them hand signs and there were twelve main ones that he stressed were the utmost importance for making techniques. Hagoromo-sensei told me that as a Tailed Beast, I didn't have to make these hand signs but if I wanted to refine my studies, then I had to memorize all these hand signs. Hagoromo-sensei also had me read up on culture, human foods, language, and society in general. He taught me that whenever I said a name, proper honorific suffixes would go at the end and I took it all like a duck took to water.

I once asked him why I needed to learn all of this because the military and law enforcement taught me the necessary skills I needed to survive and adapt. Sure the culture was a little different, but I was still human in mind and spirit. Then Hagoromo-sensei congratulated me in passing my "first test" while I was panting against the rocky ground of his mindscape. I was tired as hell and even though I didn't have sweat glands anymore, but that didn't mean I couldn't get overheated.

It was also strange not needing to sleep, though I did it to rest my mind whenever I was feeling too stressed, and it was strange that I didn't need to eat, go to the bathroom, wear deodorant, or brush my teeth. I didn't need to eat so what was the point of worrying about cleanliness? My mouth never got those 'sleeping' tastes in my mouth either since my saliva constantly recycled itself, like my chakra and stomach acids. I honestly wanted to do those things sometimes because I wanted to feel normal...like I was human again.

I once checked below the belt and even though I technically didn't have a gender, I felt depressed by the knowledge that I could never have a relationship with someone...because who in their right mind would ever be able to love me when I looked like this and how would it even work since if I did have male equipment, I would tear a person in half if I planned to have kids with that person.

I once stood up on my back paws to see if I could walk like a human and even though I was able to do so without any pain, it didn't make sense at all due to the way my new shape was built but nothing about my situation made any sense whatsoever. One time I asked Hagoromo-sensei why I hadn't met my new siblings yet and he told me that they were busy working their own styles under him and the seal that was placed on him didn't allow the developing chakras to intermix because if they did, my siblings and I would merge back into the Ten-Tails and it would be unleashed into the world again. Hagoromo-sensei reassured me that I would eventually meet them when we were let out of the seal and sent out into the world.

* * *

I had just finished my training the usual way, the ocean breeze in the background fading into the mirrors that surrounded me from all sides.

"I'm almost close to beating you, Sensei," I joked while laughing wheezily, knowing that I was far from his level.

"The day you land a scratch on me is the day I retire," Hagoromo declared with a smug smirk, while also looking serious.

"Well, then start planning now Father, because that day is coming soon!" I stated gleefully as we went to converse over tea.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed since I died and woke up in my new form, but I could predict when Hagoromo-sensei would be back. For me, it felt like three hours at the most, but that usually meant it was roughly about nine to ten hours. But what I really kept an eye on was how old he seemed to be now. When I had met him, he had been a young man but he was now showing his age. I could see that he was now well into his forties and that scared me deeply because that was an indicator of how much time had passed in the outside world, not to mention that Hagoromo-sensei was inching closer to his death. Now, I had come to see Hagoromo-sensei as a surrogate father to me and I had become attached to him, which is why I was scared of losing him.

"You are getting older, Sensei," I pointed out as I sipped from my cup of tea.

"Yes...I am," Hagoromo agreed.

"What is it like out there?" I changed the subject.

"Peaceful...now that their worst fears are over, the people have conglomerated into tiny villages spread around the world. Now that we are working together, we can move forward into the future and acquire true peace," Hagoromo said calmly while studying me out of the corner of his eye.

"So...a lot of time has passed?" I inquired and he nodded.

"I am starting to get old, Alex. Soon, I will pass on from this life," Hagoromo stated which caused me to blanch.

"What?! But you're like forty, which is good for your age! You're just getting wrinkles for God's sake!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Forty is old in this time. However, you will live long past me and many others during the course of your life," Hagoromo said.

"B-but-" I tried to protest.

"You are not human anymore, you must come to realize that. You need to understand that you will live long past me and any other mortal," Hagoromo lectured firmly.

"So...you're saying that I'm immortal..." I trailed off quietly.

"Not exactly. One day you will stop growing and you will spend much time in that form. You can die but your chakra will turn you into pure energy that will recycle back on itself and shape you back into the form you are in," Hagoromo explained.

"So...I'm immortal in a sense?" I inquired hesitantly.

"Correct," Hagoromo confirmed and hearing that made me blow up.

"What the hell is the point of living a neverending life? I-I...oh God. I...what is life without friends? Without family? Without love? Outliving all of them...what the fuck kind of life is that?! I-I...I'd rather die than go through that kind of hell!" I broke down, tears welling up and running down my cheeks.

I hadn't broken down ever since I woke up in this place, but the knowledge of outliving everyone I have ever cared about was too much for me to bear. Everyone thought that when someone they loved passes on is the worst thing that could happen to them, but did they ever stop to think about how the person who passed away would feel? Dying and leaving everything they have ever known behind? Humans fear the unknown and we have always wondered where we would go when we died. At that point, I snapped and saw red.

Next thing I knew, I didn't know where I was and I couldn't even remember what had happened. I rose up to my paws and clutched my head to try and quell a pounding migraine, looking around and gasping in shock. The training grounds all around me were completely destroyed, the forest burning and the village next to it in complete shambles while all of the tiny people were slaughtered.

"My God...what the hell happened?" I wondered in horror at the devastation.

"You lost control," Hagoromo said behind me, and I turned around to see him looking grim.

"W-what?" I stuttered in disbelief.

"You normally have unique control over yourself Alex, but when you lose control...this happens. Your brothers and sisters have had the most trouble with this which is why they are learning to control it...you advanced because you have that unique will to resist the darkness inside you," Hagoromo explained.

"So, you are saying that I'm-" I started to say and got cut off.

"You are not a monster, Alex. You have a strong will and the fact that you were able to resist the dark urges inside of yourself for so long until now is an impressive feat," Hagoromo stated firmly.

I didn't say anything and looked back at the destruction I created, looking at my hands and trembling at what I had just done. It looked so Goddamn real...I could see the bodies, smell the blood, and I truly understood why Hagoromo-sensei had me do this training. I had the power to maim, kill, torture, murder, and cause destruction if I desired which is why I was trained in this simulation so that I didn't go on a rampage in the outside world if someone pissed me off. I was truly terrified that I had this power inside me, a power so intoxicating that if I were to ever lose it...I truly don't think anyone would be able to stop me if I rampaged and I would destroy everything.

"To resist it for this long is truly an amazing feat," Hagoromo commented and I whipped my head at him with a glare.

"Amazing feat? Amazing feat?! I shouldn't be killing anyone at all! Isn't that what you taught me, Sensei?! What if this was real?! What if these people were truly dead?! I wouldn't ever be able to live with myself! I am the monster you so desperately not want me to be! This just fucking proves it!" I roared in his face, feeling like I wanted to throw up.

"You are far more advanced than your siblings...but considering what you went through, sometimes I agree you need to let it all out," Hagoromo said as he spread his arms wide open.

I snarled and charged at him, swinging a clawed hand to crush him but he dodged. I shot a Tailed Beast Bomb and charged my chakra, shooting fire from my mouth and he replaced himself with a log as he moved behind me. I jumped and curled up into a ball, spinning through the air to fire another Tailed Beast Bomb and I saw my surrogate father disappearing. I looked around but I couldn't find him anywhere, so I closed my eyes and stretched out my senses to find him...then I discovered his location and twisted my body, slashing my claws and I opened my eyes. Hagoromo-sensei was standing right in front of me with a look of surprise, but he was cupping his left cheek.

"Congratulations, Alex," Hagoromo praised me as he took his hand off his cheek and I could see blood.

 _"Oh God...what have I done?"_ I thought in horror at hurting the man I saw as a father.

* * *

A/N Done with this chapter. Now, the darkness inside Alex is a combination of Kurama's original personality and the trauma of what Alex had faced in Mogadishu. I hope you all are excited about the next chapter because Alex is going to meet his siblings and I can only imagine how interesting that'll turn out. If you like this chapter, let me know by putting down a review or send me a private message. If that's all, stay tuned.


	3. Chapter 3

Hagoromo's mindscape, Date Unknown.

"I have one thing left to teach you," Hagoromo stated.

"But...it was just luck!" I begged the man I saw as a second father, and he shook his head.

"No, it wasn't. I saw it coming, yet I wasn't fast enough to dodge...it's good. It means I taught you correctly. I'm satisfied with seeing the fruits of my teachings," Hagoromo complemented, and I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Thank you, Sensei," I said while I bowed my head in respect.

"I taught you weapons, chakra, customs, culture, Tailed Beast power, and all of the Ninshu today...I am proud of you," Hagoromo praised me.

I didn't say anything and showed a foxy grin to hide my tears of pride. After training for so many years, I had accomplished so much and I was happy with my progress...but now comes the question of what would happen next?

"What now, Sensei?" I inquired.

"Now I will teach you something I like to call...the Fuin Sect," Hagoromo told me and I cocked my head in confusion.

"I have no knowledge of that, Sensei," I stated.

"It's the entire reason that it is possible that you are here inside of my mind," Hagoromo said calmly and my eyes widened in realization.

"You're going to teach me about sealing?" I inquired in anticipation.

"Correct. Fuin Sect is the art of sealing things, whether it is a living being, chakra, or an object, and it can be used also for unsealing. The first thing we will work on is how to seal things in paper," Hagoromo said.

"Hmmm...interesting. So, what does paper have to do with sealing?" I asked.

"Most of the time we use scrolls to seal objects. However, you can put them on just about anything. I...am a different case since I have learned to put seals directly from my palms to anything around me," Hagoromo explained and I stewed over the information I had learned.

"Fascinating...and how do we get started?" I asked eagerly, my tails twitching in excitement.

"The first thing you will learn is calligraphy," Hagoromo stated, causing me to look at my claws and lush fur uncertainly.

"Well...I suppose I can't complain, but this will be difficult to learn due to how my shape is built. Very well...let us get started, Sensei," I said reluctantly as we got to it.

Hours later, my fur was completely drenched in black ink and I was cursing at my shaky, loopy handwriting. One thing I had learned is that I have shitty penmanship due to claws and paw pads.

"Well...that's good enough for today," Hagoromo muttered awkwardly and I blushed under my fur in embarrassment.

After cleaning my fur and conjuring up a giant kitchen so that I could make something to eat, Hagoromo-sensei left me to my thoughts as I made a steak and started eating while thinking about how it was all coming to light. I wasn't stupid...I saw that Sensei was getting old which meant that decades had passed in the real world while I was in here making sure that I wouldn't become some rampaging killer. Would my family even be alive at this point? My parents would most likely be dead and my brother could be a grandfather, but would some of them be alive? I had given up hope of finding any form of relationship at this point due to how different my shape was. My...friends and co-workers were either retired or dead and those that were still alive wouldn't even recognize me. Hell...would anyone accept me looking...like I did?

My body still made me uneasy due to the darkness that was inside me, but I had eventually accepted that this was my new life and there was no getting back what I had lost. Soon enough though, I sensed that everything would fall apart...and it did.

* * *

Two days ago, Hagoromo-sensei announced to me that my training was complete and I would be able to go out into the world to search for my loved ones. Now, I knew just how complex and dangerous the seal could be...Hagoromo-sensei had taken no chances with the poisonous chakra that was locked up inside his body, the seal only designed to be unlocked at the week of his death...which was soon. I couldn't describe the feeling of grief and bitter loneliness that grew when the revelation of losing Hagoromo-sensei hit me, but today was finally the day that I would be able to leave my cell...and meet my new siblings.

I was lazing around when I was suddenly ripped out of the room full of mirrors and thrust into a swirling back tunnel, feeling the unpleasant sensation of being squeezed through a small tube and I blacked out from the pain. The next thing I knew was waking up in a dim room lit with torches and a ritual circle containing me and strange looking animals that I deduced were my brothers and sisters. I also noticed that I was the first one to have woken up, other than a tired Hagoromo-sensei crawling to his feet.

"Alex...I'm glad to finally see you out in the real world at last," Hagoromo said while I was looking around and noting the grey walls with seals and historic paintings on them.

"Where am I?" I inquired.

"You are currently underground just below my home," Hagoromo explained.

"A basement? Is there a door so that we can leave?" I asked in confusion.

"I expect you and your siblings to teleport yourselves outside. You can feel chakra from here, correct?" Hagoromo inquired and I nodded.

I could feel every life form...from the smallest insect to the largest warrior or civilian. I couldn't make an estimate how far this sense went, but my sense of smell and hearing was greater than that even. I could hear the creaks of someone walking above me, the wind rustling, and a butterfly flapping its wings. I could smell the morning dew of sickle honey, the scents of every living thing upstairs, and was able to pinpoint what body position they were in and what they were doing. My senses were being bombarded with information and it was giving me a headache, forcing me to cover my nose in irritation and Hagoromo-sensei looked at me with sympathy while my tails writhed in agitation.

"My apologies Alex. I tried to prepare you for your new senses by adding scents, noises, and chakra signatures to the villages in my mindscape. Anyway, these are your siblings, Alex," Hagoromo changed the subject as he gestured to the animals near me, and I started to examine them curiously.

The first one I saw next to me was a sandy colored tanuki with blue markings, the second one was a Two-Tailed Cat made of blue flames, the third one was a Three-Tailed Turtle with a crab-like shell that had spikes on it, the fourth one was a Four-Tailed Primate with red fur and green skin, the fifth animal was a Five-Tailed white horse with a dolphin's head and horns, the sixth was a...white bipedal slug with six tails and a slimy substance covering it, the seventh was a larval insect of some kind with seven tails, and the last one looked like a hybrid of an octopus and a bull with eight tails.

I didn't know what to think about my siblings' appearances, but Hagoromo-sensei looked pensive until he marched over and kicked the tanuki next to me.

"Wake up Shukaku, I know you are listening!" Hagoromo declared sternly and said tanuki rose from his slouched position to grin at him.

"Hehehe...extraordinary! You got me again! Hehehe..." Shukaku chuckled gleefully.

"Excuse me...Shukaku, was it?" I tested the waters with my brother, who whipped his head at me.

"Hyhaaaaa!" Shukaku screeched, making me wince and I flattened my ears from the noise.

"Guess I'll take that as a yes..." I trailed off awkwardly with a sweat-drop while I leaned back a little.

"To the right, up the stairs...I smell human blood!" Shukaku declared sadistically and I swatted him upside the head in disgust.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't say something like that unless you want people to think you are crazy!" I scolded sternly and muttered, "Idiot..."

"You underestimate me?! Calling me an idiot?!" Shukaku snarled furiously and I glared back.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that the first thing you say when you meet me is that you smell human blood. You are acting like a psychopath and it is very disrespectful to Father," I lectured firmly.

"Gyuuaahh, I hope you are ready to die!" Shukaku hissed, his back haunches up and ready to pounce.

"Sit back down and don't even think about attacking me! I'll knock you into next week if you so much as charge at me," I threatened lowly while my hackles rose up to make me look even bigger.

"Graaahhh, that's it!" Shukaku yelled and he lunged at me, but Hagoromo appeared and slammed Shukaku's muzzle into the ground and I could've sworn that Hagoromo's foot sunk into Shukaku's snout like it was made of sand.

"That's enough! Shukaku, Alex, no fighting today," Hagoromo scolded and I bowed my head in apology.

"Forgive me, Sensei," I said humbly.

"Alex...what a weird name," Shukaku commented offhandedly.

"You don't have the right to judge my name considering that you're acting like a lunatic," I remarked calmly.

I didn't like Shukaku since he was acting like a serial killer that craves blood, but I would have to tolerate him since it was Hagoromo's wish and he taught me to respect other people's wishes.

"Hyahh! So uncalled for! I'll crush the life from your throat!" Shukaku threatened with a scowl.

"Shukaku, remember our conversation," Hagoromo said sternly which shut the annoying tanuki up.

"Thank God..." I muttered under my breath in relief once the screeching stopped, but Hagoromo rounded at me.

"Alex, I expect you to make more of an effort to get to know your brothers and sisters. If you don't..." Hagoromo implied menacingly while shooting killer intent at me.

"Of course...my apologies, Sensei," I agreed quickly and the killer intent stopped.

"Well, that was amusing," I heard a soft female voice speak up, and I turned to see that it was the Two-Tailed cat as she addressed Hagoromo, "Sir, I would like to make a request if you will."

"Matatabi, this is Shukaku and Alex Winston," Hagoromo introduced while he gestured to us, and Matatabi nodded.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Matatabi greeted us politely.

"Of course...call me Alex," I replied with a nod, liking Matatabi's good manners.

"Pssh...Hyahhh! I'm Shukaku and don't listen to this asshole over here!" Shukaku suggested and I shot a deadpanned look at him.

"Asshole? I'm an asshole now?" I asked dryly.

"Hyah-yeah! I shall crush you, asshole!" Shukaku threatened and I tensed up in response.

"Washi! As if you could whoop my ass, you fucking maniac!" I retorted with a fierce glare, causing Hagoromo to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Hagoromo-sama, may we go outside? I feel a little cramped in this room even though it is vast," Matatabi asked quietly.

"In a bit. I would like to talk to you all before you go your separate ways," Hagoromo informed us just before a deep male voice chimed in.

"Of course, I would like to clear myself of this idiocy," the voice stated and I looked to see that it came from the Four-Tailed primate, who was awake and staring at all of us.

"Son Goku," Hagoromo greeted.

"Hyahhh! Look, it's the Four-Tailed Ape!" Shukaku insulted and I glared at him for his disrespect.

"Four-Tailed...how dare you! My name is Son Goku! You'd do well to remember it-" Son Goku boomed in indignation until he was cut off by Matatabi.

"My fellow brothers, please listen. Can we not hold our arguments until-" Matatabi tried to reason.

"Sorry to interject, but technically they are not arguments. They are simply the proof of vastly different mentalities. It's normal sibling banter," I corrected logically.

"I disagree-" Matatabi tried to speak.

"By Kami, look at all of the prideful bastards around here! I'll crush all of you fuckers!" Shukaku declared while he was having an argument with Son Goku, who had a rather short fuse.

"You want to say that again, desert rat?!" Son Goku growled and I rubbed my eyes to try and quell a pounding headache that was forming.

"Well...this is certainly getting off to an ugly start," I muttered dryly and I saw Hagoromo pinching the bridge of his nose again.

"Whatever made me think that this was such an intelligent idea?" Hagoromo mumbled to himself and I noticed the Three-Tailed Turtle was looking at us.

"Actually, I think you have commented that it was part of how the seal was aligned...it's why all of these markings are all over the floor, isn't it Sensei?" the turtle inquired in a shy and meek male voice.

"Isobu, so nice of you to join us," Hagoromo said happily, causing Isobu to shrink back from the attention that was now on him.

"Y-yes," Isobu stuttered quietly, and Hagoromo looked at us sternly.

"Introduce yourselves," Hagoromo ordered.

"Hello, you may call me Matatabi," Matatabi greeted with a polite nod.

"I am the great Son Goku! Remember my name!" Son Goku introduced arrogantly while rearing up on his hind feet to make a proud pose.

"Shukaku is my name and killing is my game, hyaahh!" Shukaku declared and I glared at him in disgust.

"My name is Alex Winston. It is very nice to meet you, brother," I greeted with a soft smile. Out of all of my brothers and sister that were awake, I liked Isobu the most. He had a shy personality that you couldn't help but want to protect from all the evil in the world.

As for Shukaku...I detested him the most due to him being a crazed maniac that's eager to kill people for no reason. He was the very definition of a demon, which disgusted me more than anything ever could. It was so clear to me that he was gonna grow up to be a psychotic serial killer, and I felt ashamed that he was my brother. How did Father put up with him? And the most important question is why he didn't change him? I took a minute to think and concluded that maybe he tried...and it was quite possible that my brother's psychosis didn't develop until later and it was too late to stop it. If there was one thing I knew is that Father would never tolerate that kind of behavior under his roof. Whenever I had felt a little too morbid, he would whack me on the nose and it would really hurt since it was so sensitive.

Son Goku was interesting...I liked the fact that he had confidence, but he was overly arrogant when it came to himself. Yet from the snippets of conversation he had with Shukaku, he was calculative in a bookish sort of way, different from my form of cunning.

Finally, Matatabi was someone I liked because she realized the value of being polite, but she was sometimes a bit too polite...I didn't know if she was always like this or if Father taught her, but I decided not to judge her based on appearance until I got to know her better.

"H-hello, n-nice to m-meet you. I'm Isobu," Isobu introduced himself.

"Well, welcome Isobu. We'd all like to welcome you-" Matatabi started conversationally, but she was cut off rudely by Shukaku.

"Shut the hell up, kitten. What I want to know is why you only have one eye?" Shukaku demanded.

"Oh! W-well..." Isobu trailed off and ducked his head shyly, mumbling something under his breath.

"What did you say?" Shukaku asked rudely and I whacked him in the back of the head.

"Enough brother! Do not be rude," I scolded and I saw Hagoromo nodding at me in appreciation.

"If we are here in the "real world", does that mean your seal has broken, Sensei?" the octobull questioned in a deep male voice after watching us bickering, and we all stopped arguing so that we could look at the new speaker.

"Gyuki..." Hagoromo greeted while Gyuki rose up to his full height that was just beneath my chin. I was quite clearly the tallest out of all my siblings since I would tower over them all if I stood up on my back paws.

"Doesn't that mean...you'll die soon, Sensei?" Gyuki interrogated and everyone recoiled.

"Hyaahh! Old man?! Old man here is pretty much immortal, he won't die!" Shukaku declared confidently while I remained quiet.

"Isn't there another way for you to survive, Sensei? I'm sure some of us could funnel our chakra into you. If you've dealt with our poisonous chakra before, you could do it again. Am I not correct?" Matatabi questioned hopefully.

"I was never suited for immortality...I do not wish for it or need it," Hagoromo stated firmly.

I admired him...not being afraid of death and just welcoming it. It made saying goodbye that much harder but I felt acceptance in knowing that Father was going to a good place after he passed on from this life.

"How truly admirable...either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain," I muttered under my breath with a fond smile.

"But y-you're like a f-father to us!" Isobu wailed and I didn't blame him, even I felt grief at the knowledge that we were going to lose someone we cared about.

"So...who are you all?" Gyuki asked us, wanting to change the subject.

"Washi! Maybe we should just wait for the rest of our siblings to wake up so that we can do all of the introductions? Having to keep saying our names over and over is becoming tedious," I offered and a high pitched male voice started speaking.

"A very smart idea," the person agreed and I looked to see that it was the slug.

"Saiken," Hagoromo said while nodding at Saiken.

Saiken suddenly sneezed and a small ball of green liquid hit the ground and started dissolving the floor. We all watched in collective silence as the acid ate a good chunk of the floor and I shivered while I turned green under my fur. I slowly inched away from Saiken, not wanting to become a hairless fox creature and out of the corner of my eye I spotted Shukaku doing the same thing.

"Oh...sorry," Saiken excused himself out of embarrassment while putting a tail up to cover his mouth.

"Hey, that was kinda cool!" A happy male raspy voice butted in, and I saw that the larva was awake.

"Chomei!" Hagoromo welcomed with a warm smile on his face.

"Well, it seems that I'm the last to awaken," a quiet reserved female voice observed-the horse with the dolphin head, who was looking at us.

"Kokuo," Hagoromo greeted.

"Greetings," Kokuo replied with a nod.

"Hyahh! Now we can get this party started!" Shukaku exclaimed in glee, causing me to shoot him a withering glare.

"I'm sorry, but can you please quit screeching? It's giving me a migraine and I'm sure it is irritating the rest of us. Do you have some form of speech impediment?" I inquired with a lengthy stare.

"Not like you're the one to talk. You say 'paper' whenever you get pissed," Gyuki commented nonchalantly and I balked.

"Wa-! Well, it's not like I say it in every sentence!" I shot back, feeling flustered and wanting to recover from the blow dealt to my pride.

"Hey-hey! It's okay-it's okay! Chomei's here to save the day~!" Chomei sang cheerfully.

"Yeah right, as if you could stop this zoo house," Son Goku scoffed.

"I'm Lucky Seven Chomei. You could never go wrong with me. Your number is four which means death!" Chomei stated.

"I'd rather have my symbolism mean "death" than "lucky"," Son Goku retorted.

"Doesn't that mean I symbolize suffering?" I wondered thoughtfully while I looked at my tails.

"This is so idiotic, we are arguing superstitions!" Gyuki exclaimed in irritation.

"Easy for you to say, you have eight tails!" Son Goku shot back.

"Do all of our tails mean something?" Matatabi wondered as she sat down on her haunches and flicked her two tails curiously.

"Probably not. We shouldn't base ourselves according to superstition," Kokuo chimed in.

"Besides...the Maneki Neko is said to bring money and fortune so you're okay," Son Goku added.

"So, I'm going to be rich?" Matatabi questioned to herself.

"What do we base ourselves on?" Isobu asked.

"I believe Sensei wants us to find that out for ourselves," Saiken stated as we all looked at Hagoromo, who was waiting patiently.

"Alright, it's time for me to tell you all the reason why you are here. I will not live much longer...Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, and Alex. Even if you are far apart, you'll always be together. Eventually, the day will come when you all will be reunited again...each of you with a unique name and a different form than before. And unlike when you were inside of me, you will be guided down the right path...I hope you all learn what true strength is...before that time comes..." Hagoromo told us with a soft smile.

I was trembling, with tears welling up. One ran down my furry cheek at how hard it was to say goodbye to the man I saw as a second father. The day Hagoromo talked about would come, but I would go through hell for centuries which would send me down a dark path that would bring out the worst in me...and I would lose my humanity in the process.

* * *

A/N And done. So, how did you all like the chapter? To explain Shukaku and Alex's relationship, they are not going to be friendly with each other due to Alex being a former cop that hates any form of criminal activity and Shukaku being a bloodthirsty killer that murders without any reason, so you can expect them to be at each other's throats due to that. As for his other siblings, Alex will become apathetic and distant due to humanity's hatred and he'll turn cold and spiteful because of that, which will be the reason why he won't be on good terms with them instead of arguing with them on how powerful they are due to the number of their tails. Since we know how Alex's relationship with his siblings will be like, how do you all think he'll interact with Mito, Kushina, and Naruto? Let me know by putting down a review or send me a private message.


	4. Chapter 4

Location unknown, Date unknown.

We all had teleported out of the basement and found ourselves outside in a mountainous region with green valleys as far as the eye could see. The gentle breeze moved through my fur while I sat next to Hagoromo-sensei and watched my siblings spread out to explore their surroundings, some sparring with each other over small disputes. Gyuki and Son Goku were off to the side and conversing about where they wanted to go, Isobu, Matatabi, and Kokuo were watching a fight breaking out between Shukaku and Saiken, and Chomei was bouncing around, looking at everything in childish awe.

"It isn't over, is it?" I inquired quietly, and Hagoromo smiled at me peacefully.

"No, it is not...this is just the beginning for you," Hagoromo stated and I chewed on that for a while until I decided to ask him for the truth about where I was.

"How come you never showed me a map of this place?" I asked and Hagoromo shifted with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

"Because I was afraid...I'm afraid of a lot of things, Alex. I am afraid of the wars this world will face, afraid for my two sons, I am afraid for you all...being afraid is humane and a little fear is what shapes us. You, in particular since you have lost those you've cared about after ending up here suddenly. Losing family...is losing a part of yourself," Hagoromo stated and I sighed tiredly.

"You're not wrong...but it still doesn't answer my question," I pointed out.

"What if this world is unlike the one you remember? What will you do if you do not recognize anything? If you come to the conclusion that here, there is no human family ahead of you? There is nothing?" Hagoromo inquired slowly and cautiously.

"If my family died out, I would stay with their descendants," I declared after some careful consideration.

"If there were none?" Hagoromo asked which took me by surprise.

"I..." I trailed off, not having an answer to that.

"Over the years, I had come to a sketchy conclusion as to how you are here. There was once a myth that different worlds exist in many planes of reality..." Hagoromo trailed off quietly.

I didn't know where he was going with this since I was never a spiritual man, and I had never calculated the possibility that reincarnation existed before I died...but I was here, so anything could be possible.

"Have you ever dreamed of a world so vividly clear?" Hagoromo asks suddenly and I lowered my head in thought.

"Yes," I answered truthfully and questioned, "Are you saying that all of this is nothing more than a coma dream?"

"No...have you ever heard the term 'astral projection'?" Hagoromo inquired.

"I've...heard of it. Supposedly, there is a method where you are able to project yourself out of your own body and explore different planes of existence," I explained.

"Correct...on occasion, it can happen spontaneously when you are asleep or meditating. The consciousness divides itself from the body and enters different astral planes. Now, the consciousness usually goes and wanders around the same world you are in, but it is different in some cases," Hagoromo stated.

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"There are thousands of parallel worlds that weave in and out of your own timeline," Hagoromo said.

"I...do not understand, Sensei," I said in confusion, though I felt a chill run down my spine as I listened and hoped that he wasn't going to say what I thought he was saying.

"Think of it as the threads of a very long braid. Let's say that where you come from, you have a yellow string and where I come from I have a red one. Now, the yellow string is moving in a straight line...I know it isn't but for simplicity's sake, let us say it is. Eventually, because it is a braid, the red string will loop over it," Hagoromo told me.

"Okay...I think I am beginning to understand, so what you are saying is that's where time crosses?" I inquired.

"Precisely. However, different worlds cannot simply combine since it would interfere with the laws of space, but they can overlap. When the yellow and red strings cross, the border between worlds becomes very thin," Hagoromo explained and I started stroking the bottom of my muzzle thoughtfully.

"Interesting...so theoretically a thousand different worlds cross over us at different time intervals?" I wondered.

"You're catching on quickly...good," Hagoromo complimented me.

"So, you're saying that I'm from a different world? All this time you've never shown me a map to confirm it?" I questioned skeptically.

"A soul can be very delicate after a loss...I did not want you to go mad with grief," Hagoromo admitted.

"So instead you lied to me all these years. Wouldn't it have been better if you had informed me of this information in the first place?" I inquired with a sharp tone, my eyes narrowed in anger.

"Perhaps I would have if you had been reborn as a human...but you had taken the body of a Tailed Beast, and a powerful one at that," Hagoromo stated.

"What the hell do you mean by 'taken' exactly?" I demanded crossly and Hagoromo sighed tiredly, looking much older than he currently was.

"When you were dying from blood loss, you were scared, confused, and alone. My theory is that when your soul was separated from your body, it panicked. Using what was left of its diminishing Chi energy, it crossed into this world and anchored itself into the strongest body it could find...making up for the weak essence in spirit," Hagoromo clarified.

"So...you're saying that I possessed this body and merged with its conscious, destroying the original and taking over completely?" I asked in disbelief.

"Unconsciously...I truly doubt that you meant to come at all," Hagoromo agreed, nodding somberly.

"If you are right...how often do worlds cross twice?" I inquired tentatively after going over the information for a long time.

"Thousands of years...if not millions," Hagoromo told me grimly and I felt my world shatter from hearing that.

"Fuck..." I trailed off quietly while lowering my head, my claws digging into the ground and my ears flattening in despair.

Unwilling tears welled up as I considered how Hagoromo-sensei was probably right about waiting for the right time to tell me the cruel harsh truth...I had settled into this new life and come to terms with my new form, even though it made me uneasy at times. If he had told me earlier about the truth, I would've never accepted it myself and could've snapped from grief and despair. It was never easy when you lose people you care about, but losing everything you knew and having the knowledge that you could never get it back makes hell seem like paradise. While I was grieving from this new harsh reality that was shown to me, Hagoromo-sensei didn't pat me on the arm, console me, look at me with pity and didn't even say anything...he just remained quiet until I was done crying from this huge loss I had just experienced.

"What...do I do now? Where do I go and how do I find my place in this world?" I questioned quietly.

"You find a new path, a new way of life. Search for a reason to awaken in the morning. Like your siblings, someone will one day show you how to live your life with arms wide open," Hagoromo said wisely as he gestured to my siblings.

"I have paws, Sensei," I quipped weakly, still trying to process that I had lost everything I've ever cared about.

"True, but you have strength," Hagoromo stated, his purple ringed eyes twinkling with faith and hope.

"Heh...I don't feel strong," I muttered sorrowfully.

"You just have to find it then mold that strength to your liking. You will learn, I know it," Hagoromo assured me which made me feel a little bit better.

After that, we settled into a comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun starting to plunge beyond the horizon and the sky turning to a dark red.

"You know...nothing is more difficult than seeing friends die. The worst part...is having to bury them and tell their families what had happened. It never gets any easier," I said suddenly and Hagoromo nodded in agreement.

"How do you achieve peace?" Hagoromo asked out of the blue and I chewed over the question, feeling like I was being tested.

What was true peace? People fought wars over their opinion of peace, but that was contradictory. So, was it that was the stronger of the two that won the battle was their reason the true meaning of peace? I frowned at that since that didn't make sense...that was like saying if Hitler won the war my grandfather fought in, he would bring peace and mercy to the world. So what was peace? How do you achieve peace? Was there ever a true meaning to peace? It was in human nature to cause conflict ever since we discovered the killing power of rock and bone back in the stone age. I frowned as I recalled being in war and how it changes you either for the best or worst. I knew that there were people out there who wanted me dead for being an American in my past life or being a Tailed Beast now, but two opinions...both sides fighting for a single cause their leader tells them. Deception, death, torture, was it all necessary if humankind could put aside their differences?

"But what would make them put aside their differences? You could have power, but the wrong reasons. You could have the right reasons but hardly any power, so isn't the answer is that you must have a reason that binds everyone together, and you must have the power to do so?" I wondered aloud and Hagoromo smiled as he caught my train of thought, nodding at me.

"You are stronger than you realize, Alex. I know that conflict will start up again after I'm gone and I trust that you will find a way to bring humankind together again...I thought I could bring true peace by giving humanity the knowledge of chakra, but I was young and foolish...now I know that the reason why humanity worked together is that they all had a reason to. But now that the reason is gone, this temporary peace will disappear and bloody conflict will start up again. I have had temples built for you and your siblings so that you all can protect them and be protected in return...but those consumed with greed and power will come for you all for your power and one day a great calamity will befall this world. A prophecy was foretold to me long ago that an individual with bright blue eyes will bring about a miracle to the world...I hope you find that person one day Alex and that you two will finally bring true peace to this world," Hagoromo told me calmly while I listened and stewed over the information I had learned.

My siblings and I were being sent to live in temples so that we could protect them from the world, but people with evil intentions will eventually hunt down my siblings and I for our power and to use us as weapons in their wars...the most interesting thing is this prophecy about a person with bright blue eyes who'll manage to bring true peace to this world. I didn't know if this was true...but if this person does exist, then I can only imagine how interesting he or she will be and only time will tell if or when my siblings and I will meet this Person Of Prophecy that was foretold.

"These temples, where are they?" I inquired curiously.

"They are in different regions around the world and the one I'm sending you to is in the North, in a forested region surrounded by a mountainous zone," Hagoromo explained and I nodded.

I looked at my siblings, seeing them doing their own thing and knowing that it was going to be a rough road for us after Father passes on from this world but I needed to stay strong for their sake or there will be no hope for anything in this world.

* * *

A/N Finished. Now, what did you think about this chapter? I hope you liked it. I'm still struggling on how Alex should interact with Mito, Kushina, and Naruto so a little help would be nice. I want to ask you all something. How do you think about Alex finding a way out of Naruto's seal temporarily so that he could fight alongside Team Seven throughout the series? If you all have any suggestions or ideas on how that would work, I would love to hear them. If that's all, stay tuned.


	5. Chapter 5

Temple of Kitsune, date unknown.

 _"What was the true meaning of power?"_ I thought calmly while staring up at the night sky.

After Father had passed away, my siblings and I held a service out of respect for him. While I talked about Father and how he had changed so much in his lifetime, the others didn't say much and continued to mourn silently for the man who taught us so much about peace, chakra, and life itself. Once I was done with my speech, everyone else said what was on their minds and we separated to find the temples Father talked about. I found my temple and before I knew it, centuries had passed by while I stayed in touch with my siblings about lots of things in the world...and I grew from a house-sized fox kit to the size of a mountain, resembling an enormous adult Kitsune with muscular arms, torso, and haunches.

The most interesting thing I had learned was that my siblings and I could go into a psychic plane to gather together and converse, making me realize what Father meant by saying that we would never be apart. Throughout the years, when conflicts had developed among people, I tried to intervene as much as I could to stop them and I had earned a reputation for being an uncontrollable force of nature that would appear in places where conflicts were occurring and destroy the involved parties. In my defense, I tried reasoning with the war factions but they would attack me for no reason and I was forced to defend myself by fighting back due to my military and law enforcement training kicking in.

After failing so many times to convince the humans to stop fighting, I gave up and decided to go back to the temple so that I could live in solitude...thinking about what the true meaning of what power was. Power was something humans were corrupted by, something they craved, something they must have. So often humanity tried to use power for many reasons, but rarely did they succeed with it. This entire new world teemed with power but was being rotted by it. In some ways, it was no different than my old world, but now dreams of the impossible became possible. Was that an improvement? This world still suffered from disease, famine, war, and hatred...was it truly better than my old world?

What did it mean to be human? What did it mean to shape your own destiny? To have your own power and not be some stone in a riverbed? Now that I most especially had power over people, what would I do with it? It was not like I could take my own life and wait for death to claim me since I didn't have power over my life anymore. The biggest question I had was what did someone do with unneeded power? I thought back through the examples shown through human history, the corrupt leaders who took advantage over their people and their power in order to spread the cancer of hatred and suffering.

What makes something or someone powerful? What gives that edge the leaders dangle over their people? Money? Death? War? Promises? Strength? Peace? Torture? Hope? So, what did I have to offer? What threats could I possibly pose to the people? There were too many after killing in defense of life...strength? Of the brutal kind. Power? The deadliest. Death? Well, I only had to step on someone to accomplish that.

I was no stranger to death since I had witnessed it many times before, but it was never easy taking a life and it shouldn't be. The day of taking a life becomes easy would be the day that something was wrong with you. Before I had arrived at the temple, I passed many small villages and tried to ignore the differences between my home and them, the differences between me and them. If I was reincarnated, why did I have to remember them? I'd rather remember nothing than remember something and be unable to reach out to them-my true human family who I missed.

For the first two years at the temple, I stewed over my memories and felt the pain of never seeing those I loved ever again...I missed them so much that it felt like my heart was going to be ripped out of my chest, even though I technically didn't have internal organs. I just wanted to see my family and friends again, even if it was for one last time...but reality was too cruel to grant my wish and it made me so angry at how unfair it all was.

While I was lost in my thoughts, something suddenly wrapped around me and I was restrained, snapping out of it to see many tiny humans binding me in chains that were restraining my arms, torso, haunches, head, and tails. I roared and thrashed around to break free from this sudden ambush as I saw two men with long gold and silver hair smirking at each other.

"We've done well, brother. Lord Raikage will be pleased," the man with gold hair stated arrogantly.

"Indeed, brother. Now, we will bring back the Nine-Tailed Fox so that its power can be used for the betterment of our village," the silver-haired man agreed.

 **"You bastards! Release me this instant or I'll make you pay for this insolence!"** I demanded in outrage as the two men went to attack me.

I thrashed around in desperation and opened my mouth to snarl in fury, only for the two men to fly into my mouth by accident and I was forced to swallow them in surprise. A few of the humans let go out of shock and I used the opportunity to break free, glaring at the humans who had the gall to chain me up like an animal.

"Oh shit, the Fox ate the Gold & Silver Brothers!" one man cried out in alarm, the others trembling when I leaned my head down to leer at them.

 **"Consider this your only warning, humans...if your leader sends anyone after me again, I'll punish him for his transgressions against me. Run and tell your leader that he's been warned,"** I growled softly, smelling the scent of urine and feces coming off the humans as they whipped around and fled the area in fear.

I huffed and laid down, feeling my bad mood get even worse due to the knowledge that humans were hunting me for my power. I knew that the leader of those men would receive my warning...and if he decided to keep coming after me, then no amount of praying would save him from being punished for the consequences of his actions.

As two weeks passed, I felt a discomfort in my abdomen that got even worse until it turned into an unspeakable agony. I gripped my stomach and howled in pain at the horrible feeling.

 **"God! My fucking stomach is killing me! I can't...take...the pain!"** I roared in sheer agony as I leaned forward to gasp for breath.

I started heaving to try and expel what was causing me so much pain. As I vomited, I saw the two men I had swallowed crashing to the ground along with what I had eaten earlier today. The two men got up unsteadily and I trembled in a combination of pain and fury.

 **"You...fucking...humans! You will die for your insolence!"** I exclaimed lividly as I tried to recover from what I was going through.

I swung my tails at the men and they started dodging the attacks, making the smart decision to retreat by running into the forest. I groaned while I kept heaving from the pain, feeling too much agony to chase after the men that put me through this.

 _ **"They'll regret this insult...I swear to God they will!"**_ I thought heatedly as I laid down on my side to recover from the pain.

* * *

After recovering from what had happened, I made sure to keep a lookout for those two men while feeling pissed for being put through so much pain. It was then that I felt a slow burning hatred for humans at them treating my siblings and I like we were either monsters or weapons to be used until we're tossed away like garbage. When a few years passed, I caught the scent of a human approaching the temple and I moved closer to see a man with long black hair.

 **"What's your business, human? You aren't allowed on these sacred grounds,"** I questioned in suspicion.

"Nine-Tails, that transient form is nothing more than a nodule. You are only a piece of yourself, a pathetic waste of your true power," the man insulted.

 **"Shut up,"** I warned with a cold glare.

"You are merely an ignorant and unstable power," the man goaded and I gritted my teeth.

 **"Shut...the hell...up,"** I emphasized with a snarl, enraged that this human was treating me lower than dirt.

"The ones who shall guide you are the Uchiha. You Tailed Beasts are simply servants of those with visual prowess," the man declared arrogantly and I felt something snap.

 **"Shut your fucking mouth, you disrespectful little turd!"** I roared lividly at the gall this human had.

"Now, obey me," the man ordered as he made a hand sign.

I looked into his now red eyes and I couldn't move, attack, or do anything to defend myself from whatever he had planned.

 ** _"Ugh...what the fuck?! I can't move! He must be using some form of ninshu to control me!"_** I thought as the man smirked in victory.

"I knew I would tame you, Nine-Tails. Come, I have an old friend to face and your power will ensure my victory," the man stated as he left the area, leaving me helpless and beyond humiliated at being mind controlled.

 _ **"You...bastard! Just wait, I will make you suffer tenfold for this grave insult!"**_ I thought in vengeful fury as I suddenly felt myself being moved to a different location at a high rate of speed.

The next thing I knew, I appeared in a cloud of smoke with the man on top of my head, and I roared while the smoke cleared away to show me a waterfall nearby and a man with samurai armor standing in a clearing with wooden tendrils. I felt my body move and charge at the man, forcing him to jump out of the way as I smashed my mountain-sized head into the area where he used to be.

"Wood style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" the man exclaimed after making a few hand signs, causing a dragon made of wood to form and lunge at me.

My body swiped at the snake-like creature, but it wrapped around me and restrained my arms and neck in a firm grip. The man who was controlling me jumped off my head and charged at the other man, the two fighting with a combination of hand to hand combat and weapons. I noticed that they were conversing while they were fighting, and I picked up them calling each other Hashirama and Madara. I saw Hashirama giving Madara an ass whooping and my left arm broke through the wood that was restraining it, slashing my claws into the ground and throwing boulders up into the air.

Two swords landed in the area and Hashirama went for them, grabbing them and swinging at Madara with quick slashes. After a while, Madara jumped back onto my head and I involuntarily formed a Tailed Beast Bomb, slamming my jaws on the attack and firing a large blast at Hashirama.

"Wood Style: Wood Golem Jutsu!" Hashirama yelled and a wooden creature that was bigger than me formed to grab the attack and shoved it into my muzzle.

I felt my body being covered with something just as the massive explosion broke out for miles, a slash of a blade trying to chop the golem in half. The golem jumped out of the way as the upper halves of mountains were sliced off, and the golem landed as I noticed that I was covered in a glowing blue armor with extra arms on my back.

"The Tailed Beast and Susanoo?!" Hashirama cried out in disbelief.

"I would say we're both plenty warmed up, wouldn't you agree?" Madara inquired.

"Indeed..." Hashirama agreed with a look of regret on his face.

As the golem and I charged, I never thought I would hate a human like Madara with such intensity...I wanted him to be punished for forcing me into this feud with Hashirama. I swore that when I got out of this, I would grant Madara the slow and painful death he deserved. After fighting the golem with my military training, Tailed Beast power, and slashing at it with my new blades, the golem leaped up and landed behind me to grab two of my tails. I felt queasy when the golem swung me around and around, going faster and faster before sending me flying into a mountain which knocked the breath out of me and destroyed most of the armor that was covering me.

Madara roared in frustration while a little bit of armor formed and I snarled.

"You leave me no choice...Sage Art! Wood Style: Shinsu Senju Veritable 1000-Armed Kan'on!" Hashirama shouted as wood and trees formed into an enormous statue with many hands on its back like a peacock.

"Madara!" Hashirama roared as the statue charged at us.

"Hashirama!" Madara exclaimed in response as the many hands started pummeling me.

I was getting the beating of a lifetime, even though the blades and my Tailed Beast Bombs tried to protect me. My armor and the arms with swords shattered, sending me reeling back from the force of getting my ass kicked in a brutal way as the statue suddenly grabbed me by the torso like a small toy.

"Here I come, Madara! 10th Edict Of Enlightenment!" Hashirama declared as a kanji appeared on the golem's right palm.

The golem ripped itself out of the statue and placed its palm on my head, feeling myself being freed by Madara's mind control and grateful for what Hashirama did...I closed my eyes and slumped against the wooden statue's grip, feeling exhausted and wanting to pass out despite not needing any sleep. I was beat all to hell and recovering fast while I heard the sounds of fighting raging on to almost no end, then it went silent after a while and I opened my eyes to see Hashirama limping over and looking worse for wear.

 **"Thank...you...for freeing me from that human,"** I rasped in gratitude while bowing my head weakly, but I felt a cold chill run up my spine when I saw Hashirama looking up at me with regret in his eyes.

"Nine-Tails...forgive me for this after what you've been through, but your power is too great, too destructive. I'm truly sorry to make this decision but I, unfortunately, can't let you loose on the world," Hashirama stated and I barely struggled in fear.

 **"Please...don't do this,"** I begged in terror.

"I know you are afraid and I'm sorry I have to do this...may Kami forgive me for doing this," Hashirama muttered the last part while I tried to get loose out of desperation.

 **"After everything I've suffered, you're going to cage me?! You son of a bitch! You're just like all the other fucking humans who want to cage me up like some pet! You better pray I don't break free because you will regret making this choice!"** I roared incredulously as Hashirama went to leave, making me add, **"Don't you dare walk away from me, you hear me?! You will suffer greatly for this transgression once I break free!"**

I roared and spat out threats as Hashirama left the area, and I broke down sobbing at being thrown into this hell...begging for any deity to free me from this life of torment.

After a while, I was taken to a village where people stared up at me in fear. I was brought to a woman with long red hair and I glared at all the filthy humans with rage and hatred.

"Nine-Tails...whenever you exercise your power, you always draw hatred to you. Please, just stay quiet inside me," the woman by the name of Mito stated as she did a few hand signs.

 **"Mark my words, human...I will get out one day. Even if it takes decades until you are a frail withered corpse, I will get out,"** I vowed with a snarl as the jutsu activated.

I felt a familiar sensation of being squeezed through a dark tube, suddenly finding myself in nothing but darkness. I trembled until I roared and swiped at everything, my mind finally shattering and becoming consumed with hatred. They all did this to me, every one of them. Humans were nothing but a cancer that destroys everything they touched and if karma or nature doesn't wipe them clean from the world, then I will.

* * *

I lost count of how long I've been trying to escape this hellish prison, but there was no getting out so I waited patiently to break out when Mito was giving birth...that was the closest I had gotten, but Hashirama was able to put a stop to that. It was after that attempt though when Mito deign to show up for the first time in her seal.

"Nine-Tails," Mito greeted stoically.

I didn't say anything and just leered at her, baring my sharp teeth at her and feeling a twisted form of satisfaction when I caught a glimpse of fear in her eyes.

"Nine-Tails...you have tried many times to escape me now. Last night was the closest you have ever gotten, so I have come to inform you that it will be the closest you will ever achieve," Mito declared with a slight tremble in her voice.

I was livid at hearing that declaration, also for how afraid I was about her being right, and as well for the audacity this filthy human had for mocking me. Me, who survived Mogadishu, was one of LA's finest and living an endless life of survival. It galled me to no end that this...woman...was my Warden and that I couldn't break free of her disgusting chakra.

 **"I swear...I swear to fucking Christ that I will break free. And when I do, you and those you hold dear will pay dearly for the price of your actions,"** I threatened lowly with a rumbling growl.

In response to my threat, Mito's reaction was priceless when she paled and her eyes widened. Fear, revulsion, and cold horror on her face painted a pretty sight for me. Mito took a step back and opened her mouth, but no words came out and I savored her silence and fear. Then, I could feel the faint flash of a memory from Mito and it was strong enough that I could catch an echo of it...it was about Hashirama and the infant she had given birth to. With it, there was a familiar emotion I couldn't place as Mito looked shaken, and she bowed her head at the weight of this emotion.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion...and was suddenly taken aback when Mito snapped her head up to look at me with cold fury.

"I will not...ever allow that to happen. I swear it upon my life," Mito vowed with her voice as hard as steel.

I wanted to send a retort, but I was rendered silent by the sudden change. Before I could regain myself, Mito was gone and I was left to my thoughts. I was unable to figure out what had happened and why it felt familiar, but I could only sit in this prison of darkness. So, I waited and endured for the time to finally escape when the seal was weak enough.

Time passed and I only felt hatred, bitterness, disgust, anger, despair, and loneliness...being locked up in a cage with only darkness as your friend, it made things so unbearable for me. To keep myself sane, I reminisced about the good times before I had died in my past life and it only seemed to make things feel worse. I was once a respectable cop who was going to earn his pension and retire, only to have my life cut down and dropped into this hell. I felt sorrowful and just knew that if Father were here to see what his teachings were being used for, he would weep in despair.

I was so lonely and just wanted to be free, even being free from this life would be a mercy. As I stewed in my misery, Mito appeared in front of my cage. Even though she was older than the village itself, she still looked young and as refreshed as ever in her mindscape.

"Nine-Tails," Mito greeted me, and I growled at her in understandable distaste.

Mito smiled faintly at me with a hooded look crossing her features and an expression of sorrow.

"You will be moving to a new host. I will place extra seals around so that you may not contact her until she is at least twenty. She needs time away from your influence to fill herself with love," Mito explained and I huffed in response.

 _ **"Love? There is no love and no hope...not for me, my siblings, or humanity,"** _I thought bitterly, wanting to find a way to free myself from this hell.

I knew my siblings were also locked up like animals and treated like pets to be used in wars, becoming apathetic and distant due to what I've been put through. Regardless, I continued to stare at Mito with open disdain and saw a gleam in her eyes. I wracked my brain on what it was and recognized it immediately, reacting in an instant. I stood up with my hackles raised and slammed a palm into the steel bars, a snarl crawling its way out of my throat. Pure and utter rage burned inside of me at the sheer insult that she was giving to me. My tails flailed around in agitation, and never before have I felt such a strong urge to murder someone then I had before. What Mito was looking at me with was pity in her eyes.

 **"How dare you...you bitch! You have no right to pity me after what you and that damned First Hokage did to me! You have no right to go there! You will suffer greatly for this insult!"** I roared while I smashed my shoulder into the bars.

"I have been with you for so long, Nine-Tails. I catch glimpses of your emotions and I know...I know what you are feeling...I wish...I wish that you are able to find peace and forgiveness after what humanity had put you through," Mito stated while merely glancing away.

 **"Get...out! You humans, are a fucking cancer that destroys everything you touch! Mark my words when I say that I will not forget this disgusting insult, you filthy human!"** I snarled as I gripped the bars and bared my teeth at her.

The finality of my words seemed to weigh heavily with Mito, and she closed her eyes as she disappeared from my point of view. I was beyond livid...who was she to pity me when she and Hashirama were the ones to put me through this torture in the first place? I hated them, I hated them all and wished they were dead. I knew my younger self would be horrified to see what I had become, but that's how cruel life is. It crushes dreams and brings out the worst in you...I hoped that I would be free one day so that I could make them all suffer like my siblings and I had suffered.

* * *

After being transferred into the little girl named Kushina, I never thought I would hate her more than Mito. My second prison was undoubtedly the most agonizing thing I've had to experience in my two lifetimes. While I was a living mass of chakra that took the shape of a fox with nine tails, that didn't mean I was immune to feeling pain. Quite the opposite, in fact. I was susceptible to new levels of agony that humans did not have to endure, a prime example being that my chakra caused pain when mixed forcibly or incorrectly with human and nature chakra. It not only caused the humans agony, but it also caused a backlash that was painful as well.

Unlike most humans though, I had a very high pain tolerance...decades of having my chakra mixed in with Mito's made damn sure of that. And now for this host...not only was hers and my chakra imbalanced, but I was restrained on a giant rock with chains choking me and poles impaling my palms, torso, and tails. Yes...there was nobody I hated more than Kushina for putting me through this unpleasantness. When she finally decided to visit me as an adult, I could not restrain myself from snarling and snapping at her like an uncontrollable rabid animal since my mind was so broken to the point of regressing into an animal filled with the urge to kill.

"Nine-Tails...this is an unfortunate situation for the both of us, so please listen. You're here to keep the world in check, but I'm here to keep watch over you," Kushina stated, and was taken aback when I lifted my head to laugh insanely.

 **"You think you can order me like some pet? I will get out of here, and I will make you watch while I slowly devour your loved ones and I'll enjoy listening to them scream...once the village is done burning to the ground and you come crawling to me pleading for mercy, I will rip out your innards and leave you to choke on your own blood,"** I threatened with a psychotic grin.

Just like before, Kushina's expression mirrored Mito's right on the dot...the exception being that instead of Hashirama and a child flashing before her, it was the blond-haired man who had the name Minato. Then, she stared me down with a steely glare and I felt no fear coming off of her anymore.

"Not even over my dead body," Kushina promised, narrowing her eyes at me.

 **"We'll see about that, you bitch,"** I challenged with an amused smirk.

After she left her mindscape, I knew that I would be unable to escape for some time but I was trained to be patient. A Delta sniper once taught me that the key to accomplishing a mission is to be patient and wait for the right moment. I closed my eyes while feeling disgust swell in the pit of my chest, but I endured and survived like before.

* * *

I waited a few more years and I suddenly felt that Kushina was going through childbirth, taking the chance to try and escape but the damn Fourth Hokage was making it difficult for me to succeed. Then, I felt a familiar presence that I hadn't felt years ago and I felt rage when I discovered who it was.

 **"You...impossible!"** I cried out in anger and fear.

I felt my mind being controlled again and I was coming out of Kushina's seal as an amorphous being of chakra, forming into the shape of a skyscraper-sized fox with nine tails. I lifted my head and roared, feeling the fresh air and enjoying the taste of freedom after being locked up for so many decades. I looked down to see Kushina looking worse for wear and a man with some kind of orange spiral mask with one eyehole. The man had the same chakra as Madara but I couldn't attack him due to my body not listening to my commands.

"Wait..." Kushina gasped while she struggled to stand up.

"You Uzumaki are just amazing...you don't die right away after the Tailed Beast is extracted. You were the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, so I'll let you die by his hand," the man said coldly.

My body moved on its own and my hand went to crush Kushina, smashing the ground and raising my hand to see nothing that looked like a bloody smear on the crater. I looked to see the Fourth Hokage appearing on a tree with Kushina.

"You really are as quick as a flash, but you're too late," the man stated just as the Fourth Hokage and Kushina disappeared.

"He flew away...hmph, that's fine. Let's get to the Hidden Leaf Village," the man said as he walked away.

After staying still like a statue, I was transported to the very village that made my life hell. I growled as my eyes glowed red and I heard people whimpering in terror at the sight of me.

"It can't be...the Nine-Tails!" one man shouted in alarm, and people ran away in panic while I roared.

"Go, Nine-Tails!" the masked man ordered.

I snarled as I started smashing buildings and killing many humans with a combination of my hands, tails, and chakra powered roars. I smashed a building and humans leaped up to attack me.

"Over here, Nine-Tails!" one human taunted as he threw kunai with exploding paper tags.

I growled at the annoying bug and swatted him.

"Right here!" another human with a friend threw more exploding kunai at me.

I also swatted him and his friend.

"Your battle's here with me!" two more humans went to throw exploding kunai, but I sent them and many other humans away with swings of my tails.

"Hold the line! Even if we can't stop the Nine-Tails, we need to stall him long enough for the villagers to escape-" one human instructed while he and several others were on a large tree, but he was cut off when I swung my hand and crushed them.

I kept destroying buildings and killing an untold amount of humans by either stepping on them, swatting them, and sending them flying with all nine of my tails. I eventually saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I looked to my right to see the Fourth Hokage standing on the Hokage Mountain. I lifted my head and my tails arched above me, forming a Tailed Beast Bomb and closing my mouth on it. My muzzle bulged at the power growing and I shot the attack at the human, buildings, and people being vaporized by the bomb.

Kanji formed in front of the mountain and the bomb stopped suddenly in front of it, sinking into the writing and disappearing just as a massive explosion detonated miles away. I was being hit by an enlarged staff from out of nowhere, and I glared at the middle-aged man in battle armor as he twirled the staff and struck me with it many times. The man jumped out of the way before I could crush the annoying little insect, and he regrouped with an overweight man. The man jumped up and grew in size, becoming my height and going to grab me. I grappled with the man and he roared as I was picked up and slammed across the village in a hip toss. I staggered back to on all fours and was witnessing the man in battle armor heading to people who had large dogs. The people with the dogs turned into a massive drill as they jumped up, slamming into my head and sending me sliding back a few miles. I shook my head and roared in rage at the humans that were beating the hell out of me. I went to attack the humans, but I couldn't move and saw black shadows wrapping around my torso and arms...the giant human took the advantage and smashed his left shoulder into me, sending me reeling back from the assault.

"Inoichi!" the giant human called over his right shoulder as he shrank back into his normal size.

Before I knew it, elemental jutsu and throwing weapons started pounding me and sending me into the air. I was moving across the air and smashed hard into several buildings that hadn't been destroyed.

I roared in savage fury and kept destroying the village...but I felt something that made me freeze up. The mind control the masked man placed on me was suddenly gone and I could move my body again.

 _ **"The hell with this! I'm getting my ass kicked, so I need to perform a tactical retreat!"** _I thought in alarm, pissed that filthy humans were forcing me to flee like a coward.

I knew that I was running away, but I had enough of humanity and their bloodthirsty antics. Once I escape, I'm leaving the Elemental Nations so that I could find a place far away from humans to live out my immortal life in solitude. I blocked the attacks being shot at me with my tails and whipped around to flee the village, moving fast and was suddenly sent crashing to the ground outside the village when something large and heavy landed on my back.

 **"Not so fast, baka!"** I heard and barely looked to see a giant toad with a scar across one its eyes and holding a sword.

I felt something in me snap and I started forming a Tailed Beast Bomb to wipe these cursed humans from the face of the planet. The toad shoved my head down, which forced me to close my mouth and I snarled while I thrashed around.

"Just keep the Fox pinned for a little while longer!" I heard the Fourth Hokage instruct.

 **"I'll give it my best, but he's really struggling to get loose!"** the toad grunted in effort while he kept me pinned.

I was suddenly moved to a different location at a high rate of speed, crashing to the ground and misfiring my attack into a nearby house. I stumbled to my paws just as glowing chains came out of the ground to restrain me.

 **"What?! What the fuck is this chakra?!"** I growled as I struggled, and I saw the Fourth Hokage with Kushina and a human baby.

I heard Kushina talking to the Hokage about taking me with her when she died, making me struggle even harder as my eyes widened in fear. The Hokage refused and they chatted...me trying to get free so that I could escape and flee the area.

 **"Damn you all! Let me go, you bastards!"** I shouted while I struggled.

Pretty soon, the Hokage stood up and made hand signs...my eyes widening in shock when I saw a robed specter with horns and a knife.

 _ **"What in God's name?! The hell is...wait, that's the Shinigami! Why is that human...oh fuck no!"**_ I thought in horror and shouted, **"Let me go! You can't do this to me! I am the Nine-Tailed Fox!"**

The Shinigami reached through the Hokage's back and its hand went out the other side, extending and sinking into my body.

 **"Guh! What the fuck are you doing?!"** I cried out in alarm and agony as I felt the horrible sensation of my soul being torn in half.

I roared in pain as the specter's hand pulled out a blue aura in the shape of a fox, the hand and my other half flying into the Hokage which caused him to gasp from the heavy chakra entering him. My size shrunk at the height of a large business office while I snarled from the audacity this human had.

 **"Damn you, Fourth Hokage!"** I roared in fury, feeling incomplete and beyond livid at having my soul torn in half.

The Hokage went and slammed his palm to the ground, causing an altar to appear and I widened my eyes in realization.

 **"A ritual altar?! He's planning to seal me up again?! Not inside that baby?! No! I just got out and I'm never getting locked up again!"** I shouted in outrage while the Hokage placed the baby on the altar.

Kushina suddenly started coughing and the chains loosened, giving me the chance to use whatever means necessary to escape.

 **"Never again will you put me through hell, you motherfuckers!"** I exclaimed in desperation as I thrust my claws forward to kill the infant.

The two adults quickly jumped into the way and got impaled by one of my claws in order to protect the baby.

 **"Fuck yooouuu!"** I roared in frustration at my failure.

I saw the Hokage performing hand signs and a toad appeared, the toad crying out in alarm when he saw me. The Hokage talked to the toad and I became lost in my thoughts about everything. I was understandably livid...I had just broken free, only to be sealed up again? This was completely unfair on all counts and I just wanted to be free of this hell. I heard the toad disappearing in a cloud of smoke and the two parents started saying their goodbyes. While they talked, memories of my human family and friends appeared in my mind and I wished I could escape this hell so that I could reunite with them.

Eventually, the two parents were done and I roared when I was transferred into the baby, blacking out from the pain.

* * *

I groaned while I was regaining consciousness, waking up to see that I was in a cage that is in a sewer.

 **"Christ...where the fuck am I?"** I muttered as I examined the area.

After looking around and seeing the cage doors, I deduced that I was sealed up again and took a moment to wallow in my disgust and anger.

 _ **"I see...I must be sealed up inside that kid. What the hell is this? An Eight Signed Seal? I understand now...that human made it so that if something were to happen to the kid, I would die too...and he also developed it so that this kid could use my power. Even if half of my soul is sealed away, he underestimates me...me, the Nine-Tails. Even in the past, my other containers used all manner of sealing to keep me in check. Compared to that, this seal is nothing...even so, it will take a while to get free. The only thing I need to do is to gain this kid's trust and train him to be strong so that he will unlock the seal of his own free will...very well...it's not pleasant knowing that I'm lowering myself into pretending to be this kid's ally, but being hostile to him is not going to grant me any favors and he could make sure the seal would be even worse than Kushina's..."** _I thought in displeasure while I laid down and rested my head on my arms.

I hated humans...I hated them with such a passion and it physically pained me that they were still alive. Seeing the seal on the gate, I noticed that it would be used for me to send out my chakra into the kid and I started planning on what to do next...but the second thing to be addressed was this disgusting sewer. I've always hated how water would mat my fur, cling to it, and chilled me to the bone...and I hated being cold more than anything.

I growled silently while I bared my teeth and stared into the darkness...trade one pain for another. Well, let's see what I have to deal with once this kid arrives to greet me, and I'll make my judgment then.

* * *

A/N Finished. So, how did you all like the chapter? And if you all are wondering why Alex is acting so spiteful, wouldn't you be after being locked up like an animal three times and treated like a toy to be used until it's thrown away? I would be beyond livid if it were to happen to me. So, I haven't received an answer about if you all want Alex to fight alongside Team 7 throughout the series. So, how would Naruto let Alex out of the seal temporarily so that he could explore the world or fight alongside Naruto? Let me know by putting down ideas, suggestions, or opinions in either a review or a private message.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto's Mindscape, Hidden Leaf Village, Elemental Nations.

I didn't know how much time had passed since I had been sealed up a third time, but I would have to guess that it had been around six years. Due to not having any form of entertainment in the seal, I passed the time by meditating, practicing my CQC, taking naps, studying the seal's mechanism, and simply watching through the kid's eyes to see what his life was turning out to be. As typical of humans, they treated the boy like he had a disease, berated him in all manner of thinly veiled insults, and were generally just outright disrespectful to the kid. I simply felt insulted that these humans were stupid enough to see this kid like me in human form, which was not how sealing worked.

I huffed while I observed the kid causing trouble by pulling pranks on his tormenters...I had to admit that seeing the humans pissed and miserable because of the kid's antics granted me some form of entertainment at least and it was priceless seeing the humans' faces turn red and purple from outrage. I knew that I would have to encounter this kid sooner or later in order to carry out my plan of...becoming his ally. I scrunched up my muzzle in disgust at the thought of lowering myself into being an ally of a filthy human, but I didn't have a whole lot of options and being outright bloodthirsty when I met the kid would be strategically unwise.

 _ **"God...the things I have to do in order to get free of this damn cage,"**_ I thought in displeasure while I watched the kid carrying on with his day.

I stopped observing and decided to meditate, sitting up and crossing my legs in a lotus position while I placed my palms together and closed my eyes. I drifted off and enjoyed feeling peaceful-the feeling of meditation my only salvation in this hellish life of mine. I let my thoughts drift to my human family and friends. I missed them but I knew that they were in a better place...they were the only humans I could tolerate and care about despite my hatred of humanity.

While I meditated, I felt a presence enter the kid's mindscape and hearing footsteps, I opened my eyes. I got out of the lotus position and stood up on all fours just as I saw the very blond-haired, blue-eyed kid I was waiting for entering the area with a look of uncertain curiosity.

 _ **"Huh...this is unexpected. I didn't think I would encounter him so soon...wait, this is perfect! This kid would be at an age where he isn't taught about bias history of me, so he doesn't have any ill impressions. Setback aside, I could work with this,"**_ I thought gleefully just as the kid stood in front of the gate at a safe distance.

"Hello? Is someone in there?" the kid inquired hesitantly due to the inside of the cage being covered in darkness.

 **"So, someone finally decides to grace me with his presence,"** I remarked sarcastically, my voice oozing with disinterest.

The kid whipped his head around in the direction of my voice and he paled considerably with a look of terror when the darkness lifted up enough to show my giant glowing red eyes. I thought of how this first encounter was not going the way I expected, but he was a human kid so it is only natural for him to be afraid something much bigger than a building. The kid was dressed in an old T-shirt and a ragged pair of pants, as well as a hoodie that was tied around his waist like a belt. I noted the whisker marks on his cheeks which signified that he has me sealed in him. As the kid's expression grew worse, I decided to say something before things backfired badly for me. I lightly cleared my throat and spoke softly, trying to keep my voice low in order to not frighten the kid any more than I already had.

Despite my efforts, my voice still sounded loud and guttural, **"Hello, young one. It is...good to finally make you-"**

I was cut off when the kid shook his head in denial and pointed at me, keeping his eyes trained on me with the same look of fear as he exclaimed, "Y-You?! That was you this whole time?!"

I was taken off guard slightly, unable to understand what he was implying while I commented awkwardly, **"Well, you seem to have me at a disadvantage..."**

"No...nonono! You can't be real! This, all of this has to be a bad dream!" the kid shouted while he pinched himself on the arm, only to yelp in pain while the darkness around me cleared up and his eyes bulged in horror at the sight of a giant nine-tailed fox with red/orange fur looking down at him.

Seeing that this encounter was teetering towards disaster, I tried again by slowly lowering myself to the ground and whispering in an attempt to lessen the kid's fear.

 **"Calm yourself, child. You are about to have a panic attack and I'm not going to hurt you-"** I tried to reason, but I was cut off again when the kid started backing up.

"N-not going to hurt me?! Do you think I'm some kind of an idiot?! I know how these stories end! The kid gets close, too close, and the monster eats him! The second he lets his guard down, he gets eaten! Not me, nuh-uh! I'm not going to fall for your tricks and I am sure as heck not gonna be your snack, you damn fox monster!" the kid declared, turning around and bolting into the dark hallway at the end of the room.

 **"Wait! Come back, boy!"** I called out to the kid, but he was long gone and I shouted, **"Motherfucker! My container finally shows up and he runs away?! Of course, he runs away at the sight of me! Of all the humans I've been sealed up in, it just had to be some idiotic kid! Thank you, God, for putting so much misfortune on my life!"**

I kept berating myself while I was brooding for an unknown amount of time, pissed that the first encounter with my third container backfired against me in the worst way, though I would attempt to make myself as unintimidating as possible when the kid shows up again. I decided that the biggest problem was my appearance, so I made it a point to take up a pose and posture that mitigated my terrifying visage in order not to scare the hell out of the kid. I also made it a point to make sure that anger and frustration didn't find its way into my tone when I encounter the kid again if he does manage to come back.

 _ **"Ugh...can't believe I'm humiliating myself like this. Well, beggars can't be choosers,"** _I thought as I yawned and rolled over onto my back after I stretched, closing my eyes and taking a short nap.

* * *

A day later, I was laying on my back while staring up at the ceiling and making a box shape with my index fingers and thumbs held together, holding the shape in front of my face like an artist taking a reference.

 **"You know...this cage wouldn't be so unpleasant if it had a mural or TV up there...though to be fair, literally anything would be an improvement for this detestable prison,"** I muttered to myself, learning long ago that talking to myself would help ease the unbearable sensation of loneliness, boredom, and isolation.

Unbeknownst to me, the kid had returned sometime over the past few hours ago and was watching me out of curiosity, though he made sure to keep his distance from the gate and not make any noise that would've alerted me to his presence. The kid was confused as to why he'd wound up back in this place, wherever he was. It was the same place he wound up after accidentally knocking himself out by falling from a rooftop, the place with the giant cage that held the giant orange fox with nine tails. He was just as frightened by all of this as he was yesterday.

 _"This...this isn't a dream, is it?"_ the kid thought to himself, silently watching the giant fox talking to himself and staring at the ceiling.

The kid guessed that the enormous animal was probably some kind of monster or demon, judging by the large piece of paper attached to the front of the gate with one of those large symbols painted onto it. In the stories he remembered, they'd used those kinds of things to imprison powerful evil spirits.

 _"B-but those were just stories, right? There's no way that this can be real...maybe this is a nightmare that I just can't wake myself up from? Yeah, that has to be it! I just need to stay away from that monster until I wake up! As long as that dumb fox can't get me, I'll be safe and wake up eventually,"_ the kid thought with a nervous gulp and tried to strengthen his resolve, despite every instinct in his mind telling him to make a run for it. In the worst case scenario, he could run out into the hallway again like he did last time but he was also kind of afraid of how creepy and intimidating the seemingly endless hallways were.

 _"I can at least get away from this guy if I have to as long as the cage stays locked up...better than being trapped in a closed room with him, right?"_ the kid concluded inwardly, keeping his eyes trained on the fox and watching for any sudden movements in case the big dumb fox tried anything sneaky.

The kid watched the Fox and noticed how he was still staring at the ceiling, holding his hands up like an artist would plan out one of his paintings.

 _"The heck is he even looking at? There's nothing up there but a boring old ceiling..."_ the kid thought in confusion as he leaned forward to get a better look inside the cage.

The kid stood there in silent observation, watching as the Fox dipped one of his tails into the water and proceeded to drag the tip of his tail across the ceiling like he was pretending to paint. His imagination quickly produced the image of the giant fox wearing a painter's smock and hat, standing in front of a priceless work of art in one of those fancy art exhibits and bragging to a bunch of rich snobs. The kid couldn't help but chuckle at the mental imagery, slapping a hand over his mouth to stifle the inevitable laughter as his imagination continued along this train of thought. He wasn't exactly sure why the image of a giant fox demon in artist attire was funny to him at this very moment, but he couldn't help it.

My ears twitched at the sound of muffled laughter, looking to see the kid freezing up and blanching as I stared with a less than amused expression.

 **"Am I amusing you, boy? Nice to see that me being locked up is simply so hilarious to you,"** I said dryly with an irritated glare.

"N-no...I wasn't laughing at you, I was just remembering a funny joke, honest!" the kid stated frantically, resulting in me staring at him blankly, blink a couple of time, and answered in a huff of disbelief.

 _ **"Somebody shoot me now...why the fuck did I have to be sealed up in an idiot? I'm too old to be dealing with this bullshit,"**_ I thought, rolling my eyes and cursing myself about how my luck had become shitty since I died and reincarnated in this life.

The silence became deafening after that as the two of us stared at each other again, just like the last time. This time though, I was staring with a neutral expression and the kid was putting up a brave front despite how I could sense the terror coming off of him. Eventually, I broke the silence by speaking before things quickly became even more awkward.

 **"So...boy? Is it safe to assume that you'll run away again soiling your pants like last time, or are you willing to stick around long enough for us to at least have a full sentence of a conversation?"** I inquired wryly, smirking after I made the not so subtle jab at the kid's actions earlier.

I had done this in an attempt for the kid to gain some form of foolish bravery due to hurt pride, rather than from any desire to insult him. As anticipated, I had gotten enough of a significant rise out of the kid that I was pleased he wasn't going to run again anytime soon.

"I did not pee my pants, you big dumb fox!" the kid shouted defensively, causing me to chuckle and the kid crossed his arms angrily while pouting.

"Fine...whatever. I'll stick around and hear what you wanna say...you won't let me get any sleep if I don't. I haven't been able to sleep right in over a month ever since you started waking me up with your loud thrashing and other crap," the kid stated while he glared at me.

 **"Kid...did you ever stop to think where you were hearing those noises before you deigned to grace me with your presence yesterday?"** I pointed out and the kid flushed in embarrassment.

"Well, how the heck was I supposed to know that a real person was making those sounds?! I thought I was going crazy or something! I didn't know that you actually existed or that you were some giant demon fox! I've heard stories of people going crazy and hearing voices, ya know? I was scared!" the kid sputtered.

Due to the kid making a very good point, I relented with an irritated sigh and muttered under my breath about how this kid was going to be the death of me. In my head, I chastised myself with no small quantity of vitriol. It irked me to no end that I had been taken down several pegs by this human, and it dealt a big blow to my pride due to a kid being responsible for it. My jab at the kid's pride backfired against me, though I did manage to accomplish my intended goal which made me feel better.

 _ **"Ugh...I cannot believe how humiliating this is, but at least I managed to salvage the situation...I think? I'll take whatever I can get at this point,"**_ I thought in distaste.

 **"Look, boy, I think we started off with a bad first impression,"** I started to say as calmly as possible, trying to be civil despite centuries of instinct and hatred screaming at me to kill this kid.

"Yeah, no kidding," the kid snorted, glaring at me and it took everything I had to keep my temper under control.

I resisted the urge to retort, deciding that I'd tolerate the kid's disrespect long enough for him to free me from this disgusting prison.

 **"Anyway...as you can see, I'm in a bit of a predicament,"** I remarked while I gestured the cage around me.

The kid merely raised his eyebrows and nodded with a grin, pointing at me, "I can see that...despite all that rage, you're just a fox in a cage!" he quipped, barely able to keep himself from laughing so that he could finish his sentence.

I was far from amused at the poor taste in humor, staring at the kid with a dirty look and casting all manner of silent judgment on the bad joke.

 **"Seriously? I did not just hear you say that..."** I grumbled while the kid was laughing, and I rubbed the bridge of my muzzle while I thought, _**"I really do not deserve this misfortune."**_

"What? It's just a joke, so lighten up," the kid said after he stopped laughing.

 **"Kid...that was by far the worst joke in the history of this planet, and you making jokes about my situation is very unpleasant,"** I stated irritably, ignoring the urge to kill this kid for mocking me.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," the kid said defensively, crossing his arms and defiantly furrowing his brows.

 **"Yes it was, so never do that again,"** I warned while I shook my head.

"Yeesh...what is it with everyone I meet having a crappy sense of humor?" the kid muttered in a slight offense, prompting me to lower my head after I stood up.

 **"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe it's you who is the one with the crappy sense of humor?"** I asked dryly, causing the kid to dismiss it with a laugh.

"Ehh, that's what they all say. You should see my pranks though, those are pure gold!" the kid declared with a foxy grin.

 **"So...if you know how to prank people, then I don't suppose you know how to pick a lock?"** I asked eagerly.

"Uhh...I did it once or twice, why?" the kid inquired cautiously.

 **"Well, I was thinking that since you know how to pick a lock, then maybe you could get this cage open by messing with the lock,"** I suggested, excited that freedom was so close to being achieved.

The kid apparently forgot that he was talking to a giant fox with nine tails since he asked, "Lock? What lock?"

 **"Oh for the love of...the lock that's keeping this gate held shut, obviously!"** I snapped in irritation, a tick mark forming on me.

"I don't see any lock...it's just a big gate with a giant piece of paper slapped onto the middle of where the two gate doors meet. It's got this big symbol on it like what you see on those old books and scrolls, or comics...you think it might be cursed or something?" the kid wondered.

 **"Ahh shit...I was afraid of that,"** I cursed under my breath while the kid flinched at the foul language.

"So...is that a yes or no?" the kid asked nervously.

 **"It's not worth it...the gate has a sealing mechanism where it could only be opened with the key. I doubt you could be of any use to me at this point,"** I lied, a little surprised at how naive this kid was.

"Not even as a snack?" the kid asked with a chuckle and a nervous smile after glancing around uneasily for a moment.

 **"I'm not going to eat you, boy. You would probably taste terrible anyway,"** I quipped with a dark grin, causing the kid to sputter.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I taste just fine!" the kid shouted in indignation, but he paled at the words that just came out of his mouth and quickly added, "Err, no! You're right, I taste terrible! You wouldn't want to eat me! Ehehe!"

A few minutes passed after I laid down and turned over to my side, thinking about how easy this was since this kid wasn't taught about bias history of me. I knew that it was going to be unbearable playing nice with this human, but I needed the kid in order for him to free me so that I could escape the Elemental Nations...I was quite frankly done with humanity and wanted to stay as far away from them as I possibly could. If the humans wanted to kill each other over their petty wars and greed, then that was their choice because I gave up on seeing any kind of hope in them a long time ago. I was just so tired and lonely, wanting to be free so that I could make my own choices and live my own life without humans treating me as a pet or a toy to be used.

"So...um...what's your name, anyway?" the kid asked me hesitantly, causing me to arch a brow as I tilted my head to look at him in suspicion.

 **"Why do you ask?"** I inquired stoically.

"Well, I mean, if you're stuck here and I can't let you out, and I'm gonna be stuck being brought here while also hearing you at night and stuff...we might as well know each other's names, right?" the kid offered with a smile and asked, "So, uh, what's your name?"

 **"You can just call me Nine-Tails since your kind is fond of calling me that...I assume you have a name though, correct?"** I asked dryly, seeming to take the kid off guard.

"Huh?" was all the kid could say in response.

 **"What is your name, boy?"** I repeated with a tone of annoyance.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the greatest ninja the Hidden Leaf Village has ever seen!" Naruto declared as if he recited the line at least a hundred times prior, and I grinned in an effort to look friendly.

 **"Naruto Uzumaki? Hmm...I see. Well, it is...nice to make your acquaintance, Naruto Uzumaki,"** I stated while trying to hold back a grimace and pretended to yawn, **"I think it's about time for me to take a nap, so...I'll let you get back to whatever it is you were doing, for now."**

"I was sleeping...You know, that thing that I have to do every night? That thing you keep waking me up from?" Naruto remarked with a slightly annoyed and sassy tone.

 **"Sure, about that...I'll be sure to try and not wake you up in the middle of the night anymore...but in return, I expect you to respond when you hear me from now on, deal?"** I offered.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure! It's a deal!" Naruto agreed.

Naruto turned to leave, but he seemed to realize he didn't know how he was going to get out. After staring out into the hallway for a good few minutes, he shrugged and sat in one of the corners of the room, waiting to leave his mindscape so that he could wake up. Naruto faded away and I chuckled sinisterly at how everything was going according to plan, pleased that I was one step closer to escaping.

 _ **"Well, I'll be damned...not only is the little shit easy to manipulate, but he's also planning to become a ninja? If I can find a way to get him to locate the key to this seal, then I'll be able to escape this fucked up prison and free my siblings so that we all could find a place to call home. I can work with that...oh yeah, I can definitely work with that. As deplorable as it is to make nice with the blond idiot in order to get free of this cage, it's a price that I'm more than willing to pay and I'll put up with the human for as long as it takes...who knows, this whole thing could turn out to be entertaining for me. Naruto Uzumaki...you may prove to be very useful to me indeed,"** _I thought gleefully with a sadistic expression on my muzzle.

I laughed out loud, letting my mind wander at the possibilities and potential for some time. I had deemed the interaction to be a huge success, despite wanting to claw my eyes out for playing nice with a human whelp. I gradually let my eyes close, slowly moving my tails under myself to act as makeshift pillows and bedding. I fell asleep and had nice dreams of killing Madara Uchiha by ripping out his spine and tearing out his intestines to devour him slowly while he screamed and begged for mercy.

* * *

A/N And done. I hope I made the interaction with Alex and Naruto believable. If you all are wondering why Alex isn't shouting death threats at Naruto the second he showed up inside the seal, the difference between Alex and Kurama is that Alex knows that doing that is not going to work in his favor so the smart thing to do is gain Naruto's trust and manipulate him to let Alex out of the seal. Remember that Alex was a former US Army veteran and a police officer before he died, so he would use his training by observing a situation and use any opportunity to a tactical advantage. I hope that I answered any questions and I want to know how Alex would be let out of the seal temporarily in order to either explore his surroundings or fight alongside Team 7 in the series.


	7. Chapter 7

Hidden Leaf Village, Land of Fire, Elemental Nations.

Naruto was seated at one of the barstools of Ichiraku Ramen, polishing off his first serving of the delicious noodle soup and exhaling in a dramatic fashion once he'd fully finished the meal.

"Man, that was tasty! Thanks, Teuchi-san!" Naruto stated with a satisfied grin on his face and the chef behind the counter smiled and waved it off.

"It's no trouble at all, Naruto-kun. I'm always happy to reserve a free bowl on occasion for my favorite customer," Teuchi declared, taking the empty bowl while Naruto sat and sipped at the remainder of the soft drink he'd ordered to go with his ramen.

A long while back, the chef had correctly guessed by Naruto's behavior that this was likely the only warm meal the boy ever got, but Naruto had intended that to be just a casual joke. It deeply saddened him to have that be confirmed as a reality, especially after he witnessed first-hand how the other shopkeepers would either refuse to serve Naruto outright, or they would charge him an exorbitant amount of money for something simple as a loaf of bread.

Teuchi had since then decided to take it upon himself that the poor kid at least had someplace he could go to as a source for meals. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could do for the kid given that some of the pettier customers had decided to boycott him for serving the one they refer to as "the demon child".

 _"Ignorant cowards, treating a child in such a way...truly breaks my heart,"_ Teuchi thought bitterly.

He believed that Naruto was a good kid and that he could prove it if anyone ever gave him the chance, no matter what anybody else said.

"So, Naruto-kun, another serving of the usual?" Teuchi inquired cheerfully.

Naruto was about to respond when his mind echoed with the familiar voice of Nine-Tails, _**"Naruto, I need to speak with you so return to my prison as soon as you are able to."**_

Naruto silently groaned, now having his lunch interrupted by that damn fox. It was great not having Nine-Tails waking him up at night anymore, but it was still really frustrating that he kept calling out to him during the worst possible moments.

 _"Why does he always do this? It's like he purposely waits until I'm in the middle of something to ask me to come and see him,"_ Naruto thought in exasperation while shaking his head at Teuchi.

"Not right now, because I've gotta go take care of something first. I'll catch you later, Teuchi-san!" Naruto said while he hopped off the barstool, waving to the ramen chef and his daughter as he left the ramen shop.

"You take care of yourself, Naruto-kun! There's always a barstool for my best customer!" Teuchi stated while Naruto headed back home.

* * *

I kept waiting for Naruto while my tails twitched impatiently, sensing that he was finally home and I closed my eyes and concentrated for what I was about to do next. To make myself less intimidating whenever I'd meet with the kid, I would change my size and either stayed in my humanoid form or a feral form that looked like a large dog-sized fox with nine tails.

I focused my chakra and felt my form getting smaller until I was the size of a normal human male, standing up onto my two digitigrade paws and leaning against one of the giant bars with my arms crossed just as Naruto appeared in his Mindscape with a look of irritation.

"What's up, Nine-Tails?" Naruto asked casually, not even bothering to inform me that I'd interrupted him during lunch for the fifth time this week since I'd only take a manner of amusement from how I was inconveniencing the kid. Sometimes, I even shot him a witty response that only mocked his annoyance.

Throughout the past several times I had contacted him, I kept up the friendly facade by asking him questions like how old he was, where he lived, who his parents were, and other things like that since I already knew that Kushina was his mother but I didn't know who his father was because Kushina had the bright idea to make sure I never saw the outside world through her eyes.

I was reminded of my human parents from my past life when Naruto told me that he was an orphan and always had been since the day he was born, the memories of my past life coming back causing a flicker of an unknown emotion to pass my muzzle for a second and I had ignored a slightly familiar feeling that sparked inside me since that day.

 **"I've come up with a new theory, and I believe that I've proven this one to be correct after the past few days. I also think that I've devised a better way for us to communicate,"** I told him while examining my claws from being slightly bored.

The first time Naruto had heard me say the word 'theory', I had made him ask the humans running the ramen shop what the word meant because I had grown sick and tired of constantly explaining what all the fancier words meant and refused to use a simpler vocabulary.

"And?" Naruto asked, tilting his head slightly as he waited for me to continue.

 **"We seem to share some sort of connection, mentally. After very careful observations I've made, I believe that I can confirm it one hundred percent,"** I informed him and he raised a brow.

"Yeah, so? What's so important about that? Didn't you figure that out when we first met?" Naruto questioned in confusion.

I simply shook my head and clarified in a tone that was laced with mild annoyance, **"It's more than you simply being able to hear me, kid. I've discovered that I'm able to see some of the things that you see, in addition to hearing some of the things you hear. If I concentrate, I can get a clearer sound and image. I think it will come to be useful in our future endeavors if I can refine it and figure out its nuances. This may be a way we can actively communicate, albeit indirectly."**

I saw Naruto lightly scrunch up his face at my explanation, making me momentarily thin my eyes at him.

 **"...Why are you looking at me like that? Did I use too many big words again?"** I added the last part mockingly as I grinned darkly at him.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he stuttered, "No...well, maybe but...I just...that's kinda weird, don'cha think? I mean, you being able to see what I can see and stuff...isn't that kinda like, peeping?"

I lightly recoiled and narrowed my eyes in an expression of contempt as I snapped, **"God, of course not! Get your damn mind out of the gutter, you juvenile idiot! As I said, it can be used to better communicate. If I can focus enough, I can send you a message the usual way and you might be able to respond back without having to come back here. Do you understand?"**

After several minutes of trying to explain things to Naruto, I eventually gave up since he simply wasn't following along and that it was pissing me off to the point of struggling hard not to strangle him.

 _ **"Shit, it's not like this dumbass kid has to understand how this works for us to be able to gain benefits from it,"** _I thought dryly and decided to move on to more important matters, clearing my throat to get Naruto's attention.

 **"Moving on to other matters I wished to speak to you about...I think it's time for you to prepare for the Ninja Academy so that you can be a Shinobi, which is why we should start off by doing some digging about the concept of a Ninja so that you can understand what's like to be a Shinobi,"** I stated and Naruto nodded slowly.

"By us, you mean me right?" Naruto inquired.

 **"Precisely, so does your village have a knowledge storage facility? A place where literature and writing are kept?"** I questioned.

I saw Naruto holding a look of momentary confusion on his face before he hesitantly asked, "You mean like...a library?"

 **"That sounds like it should suffice, yes,"** I responded, causing Naruto to lift his head back and groan loudly.

"But I hate reading! It's so boring!" Naruto whined and I blinked at his choice of words.

 **"Cry me a river, kid. If you want to be a Shinobi, then you need knowledge on how to be one so quit whining,"** I warned with a deadpanned expression.

* * *

Upon his return to reality, Naruto groaned and lazily rolled out of bed while thinking, _"Man, this stinks...but that damn fox is just going to nag me again like last time unless I go and do it."_

Naruto sighed and stretched a few times before going over to the front door, putting his shoes on and heading out. He hated the idea of having to go and sift through a bunch of boring old books and scrolls but he didn't have a choice, though the Fox tried to play it up like it'd be more fun than it actually would be by suggesting he would learn things that would give him a head start in the Academy.

 _"Yeah right, books are still boring... the stupid fox. Why couldn't someone else have to deal with this guy? Why'd it have to be me with the nagging, grumpy, fox monster?"_ Naruto thought while he grumbled under his breath.

Naruto was on his way to the Library right now, though he was taking his time and procrastinating as much as possible.

"Yeesh...I know that I was wishing for adventures and stuff, but I didn't want it to include reading..." Naruto muttered under his breath irritably.

 _ **"You could always be locked up in a cage all day,"**_ Nine-Tails remarked suddenly.

Naruto nearly tripped and faceplanted by the sudden intrusion into his thoughts, clearly not expecting anyone to respond to what he was thinking out loud.

"Hey, no one asked you, ya know!" Naruto retorted while he looked around, but saw that no one had been talking to him and that several villagers were staring at him oddly.

 _ **"That was smart, kid. Now people are going to think that you're going crazy,"**_ Nine-Tails said dryly.

Naruto gritted his teeth and muttered a response, "You can hear me now?"

The Fox laughed and smugly replied, _**"Speak up boy, I can't hear you."**_ causing Naruto to growl in frustration while he added, _**"If you had paid any attention at all, you would understand how I'm doing this. I literally explained everything to you earlier but you were too busy complaining, now quit screwing around and get to the Library!"**_

Naruto eventually made it to the Library, stopping just short of the entrance and ducking into cover.

 _ **"Naruto, what are you doing?"**_ Nine-Tails asked in confusion after a few moments.

"Hiding, duh. One of the librarians hate me, so I'm waiting to see if they're here today," Naruto whispered as he peeked through the main doors and sighed in relief when he didn't see any evidence of the Librarian lurking nearby.

 _ **"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what sort of elaborate scheme did you manage to pull off in order for you to be afraid of facing the Librarian?"** _Nine-Tails inquired and Naruto laughed as he started to explain.

Naruto told Nine-Tails that he had snuck into the Library one night and proceeded to take a large number of books from both the fiction and non-fiction sections, then he had randomly swapped them in the sections until he left the Library at dawn and hid so that he could watch. When the Librarian showed up, he had let out a long drawn out scream of pure outrage and disbelief while Naruto laughed.

After Naruto was done with explaining, Nine-Tails was speechless for a good amount of time after that until he cleared his throat.

 _ **"You have far too much time on your hands,"**_ Nine-Tails stated with a sweat-drop.

"Why does everyone say that?" Naruto grumbled indignantly, though he ignored further conversation with Nine-Tails and focused on sneaking his way into the Library.

 _ **"So, that's why this Librarian hates you?"**_ Nine-Tails asked.

"Heck no, they never found out it was me. This old geezer hates me because-" Naruto said and was cut off.

 _ **"You have an outstanding reputation as a misdemeanor vandal, a general public nuisance, and a thief?"** _Nine-Tails questioned sarcastically, causing Naruto's eyes to widen in outrage.

"That's not fair! I only took money from rich snobs, and it was only because those jerks in the market district keep making me pay more money than everyone else!" Naruto shot in defense and Nine-Tails snorted since he didn't believe the excuses.

 **"So, what does this scary Librarian look like?"** Nine-Tails inquired and Naruto huffed.

"He's an old geezer that has a face that looks like a hawk, and his expression is always grumpy so you can't miss him," Naruto responded as he spotted the front desk.

* * *

I simply watched while laying down, seeing Naruto sneak past the man at the front desk and he eventually stopped at one of the bookcase junctions.

"So, what are we looking for Wry-Fox?" Naruto asked, and I bristled at the demeaning nickname.

 **"For the love of...don't call me that!"** I growled in agitation.

"Then help me come up with a name for you since Nine-Tails is so stupid!" Naruto countered hotly.

 **"I'm fine with that name! I don't want another name and I don't need another name, especially not a name that you come up with!"** I retorted loudly.

"Hey, I come up with awesome names...you're just too picky," Naruto scoffed and I gently rubbed my eyes to ease the pounding headache that was forming.

 **"Coming from the kid who thought "Fen" was a suitable name because, and I quote, "it's short for fennec fox and you look like a fennec fox". Not only was it bland and mindlessly stupid, but it was highly insulting,"** I huffed irritably.

Naruto just shrugged and made a face as he remarked, "I thought it was a nice name and besides, you kinda do look like a fennec fox...at least your face does."

 **"No, no I do not,"** I spat in distaste while crossing my arms and scowling.

I could see that Naruto had made it further into the library, though he was still arguing with me under his breath, "Hey, at least my suggestions were better than 'Kyuubi no Kitsune', I mean talk about boring."

 **"It was descriptive and accurately accounted for my attributes!"** I shot back in defense, taking further offense to the kid's remarks.

"Whatever, your names stink. What am I looking for in here anyway? The quicker I can get out of here, the better since I hate books and books hate me," Naruto stated with a frown.

I growled but decided that the task at hand was far better than arguing with a six-year-old, and I also chastised myself for having an argument with said six-year-old.

 **"You're looking for anything about the founding of the village and the Shinobi system in general, that way you'll have an idea of how a Ninja operates. Once you're done with that, I'll get you started on building up muscle mass so that you'll be prepared for the next step,"** I instructed, causing Naruto to groan silently as he got started.

I quit watching through his eyes and grumbled at the fact that my third container was going to drive me completely insane before he frees me from this disgusting cage.

 _ **"Just...be patient, Alex and try not to let this irritating human get to you,"** _I thought with a huff.

"Huh? Oh...hey Wry-Fox, check this out because I think I've found something that might tell me what you are," Naruto told me suddenly, and I focused to see that he was reading a book that had pictures of a beautiful woman with fox-like features and a cluster of tails trailing behind her. I could also see that there was a picture of a fox with multiple tails while the title said 'Kitsune'.

 **"Well, I suppose that I can kind of see a resemblance, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not the same creature depicted in that book,"** I stated after reading through the open pages.

"Nah, you're totally a Kitsune! See, it's right here in this book of magical creatures and it totally makes sense!" Naruto declared and I decided not to argue since it would just be a waste of time.

 **"Naruto, why are you looking up a book on mythology? Shouldn't you be studying the history of this village?"** I questioned.

"Mytho-what now?" Naruto wondered in confusion, causing me to groan and drag a hand down my muzzle in exasperation.

 **"Magical creatures? Like in those comic books that you read?"** I clarified with an annoyed tone.

"Oh yeah! I guess the reason why is because I know nothing about you except your stupid name, and I wanted to look and see if there were any books about you that I could find here," Naruto explained.

 **"Either way, you need to study the history of this village if you want to have knowledge of how to be a Shinobi. You do want to be a Shinobi, correct?"** I asked and Naruto chuckled in embarrassment while he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah...sorry about that, I just wanted to know more about you. I'll quit messing around...hey, Wry-Fox?" Naruto asked after looking at the picture of the woman for a few moments.

 **"Quit calling me that!"** I shouted in frustration while pinching the bridge of my muzzle.

"Why can't you look like her? It'd be so much easier to talk to you face to face if you were pretty like she is," Naruto stated while pointing at the image of the Kitsune woman.

I was dumbfounded, completely rendered silent as I desperately tried to regain my composure. Never before had any of my previous containers have ever said that to me and I most certainly knew that I was a male, given the fact that I was a male when I'd died in my past life and the fact that I was male in this life...even though I had physically nothing below the belt to determine such a thing.

I was beyond embarrassed and it felt like my male pride was dealt with a serious blow, immediately reacting by going to chastise the kid.

 **"Naruto?"** I inquired with a deceptively kind tone.

"Yeah?" Naruto wondered while I twitched and a tick mark formed on me.

 **"I'm pretty sure I can't look like her because I'm nothing like her! I'm a guy, or did you forget that little detail?!"** I shouted lividly with a bit of venom in my words.

Naruto faceplanted onto the desk, a drawn-out sound of disappointment left his mouth as he sat there with his forehead firmly planted on the desk. I was very flustered and blushed heavily under my fur, crossing my arms and turning my head away from the bars of the gate in an effort to repair my damaged pride.

 **"Hmph...as if you didn't have enough difficulty paying attention to me as it is...the last thing you need is perverted thoughts distracting you. Besides, you're six and you shouldn't be concerned with such things!"** I lectured.

"What? I was just talking about you not being a giant, scary fox monster or a normal sized fox monster...what are you talking about?" Naruto questioned and my eyes bulged at the knowledge of where this was heading.

 **"Uh...never mind, forget I said anything,"** I said quickly while reminding myself that he was six years old.

"No, really, what the heck were you talking about?" Naruto pressed curiously.

 **"I said it wasn't important, so drop it!"** I snapped irritably, really not liking where this was heading.

"Wha-but I-" Naruto stuttered.

I immediately broke the connection between us and sat in my cage while staring at the flooded floor with an uncomfortable expression for a good few minutes. That conversation very nearly went down a path of dialogue I was very uncomfortable having with a six-year-old, though my flustered expression eventually went away and I wiped my forehead while breathing out a sigh of relief.

 _ **"Fucking hell, that became extremely awkward very quickly...I keep forgetting that the little shit is only six. If this is what parents have to deal with while raising a child, then I sure as hell do not envy them,"**_ I thought while laying down and using my arms as a pillow, trying to recover from what was a very embarrassing moment.

 **"Ugh...Shukaku and Gyuki are never going to let me hear the end of this if they ever find out,"** I grumbled as I could just imagine that fucking tanuki and octo-bull laughing at my misfortune.

* * *

 **"That should be enough information so you can go now, kid,"** I told Naruto, who had amassed a rather large pile of books on the desk and read through every single one.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and wasted no time in getting out of the chair just before he started to head for the entrance.

 _ **"At least he has a general idea of what a Shinobi is and how they operate, though the only thing that's pissing me off is that I have no idea where the key to this cage is and how to get it. The only thing I need to do is try and figure out where the key could be while training the kid to get used to my chakra so that he could break the seal if he draws on enough of my power...yes, that should work if he can't locate the key.**_

 _ **That'll probably take some time and it's not like I have anything better to do, besides chat with the little shit...which I'm not doing anytime soon anyway because the last thing I need is him bringing that back up while it's still fresh in his mind,"**_ I thought while picturing Naruto badgering me over and over again about getting me to take the form of that Kitsune woman.

I shuddered at the thought, unfortunately having no means to force Naruto to leave should he decide to visit my prison of his own accord.

 **"Why in the holy name of God did it have to have such questionable pictures?"** I wondered quietly.

After several minutes, I eyed my reflection and started to mull over what Naruto told me earlier while a thoughtful expression crossed my muzzle.

 _ **"Hmm...I wonder,"**_ I thought, questioning if I could take a female form since I had never even attempted that before.

Nevertheless, I experimented with forming a picture in my mind out of curiosity and eventually found myself imagining what I would look like if I was a female version of myself, and I couldn't help but have a stupid grin cross my muzzle as the image of a slender and much more seductive version of myself with nice firm breasts and a plush rear replaced my masculine build.

 _ **"Huh...I actually think I'd look quite nice as a female,"**_ I thought with a blush, but I shook the image away and chastised myself for letting my thoughts go into the gutter.

I decided to observe what Naruto was doing and saw him attempting to sneak out of the Library, only to get caught by an old man that matched the description of the Librarian he warned me about earlier. I saw the man starting to give Naruto a lecture and kept observing to see how Naruto would escape this situation, witnessing Naruto take out pocket sand and chucking it into the man's face.

"Pocket Sand Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and bolted out of the Library while the man was sputtering and recoiling from the sudden assault.

I was roaring in laughter at what had just happened since I didn't get any entertainment in here and that was hilarious to see, gasping while Naruto had arrived at the ramen shop to get something to eat. Once I was done with recovering, I wiped a tear from one of my eyes and decided to meditate in order to pass the time.

I sat down and closed my eyes, breathing in and out deeply while I drifted off.

* * *

A/N Hey, I want to apologize for not updating in a while due to being busy with my other stories. So, I've finally figured out how Alex will be let out of the seal temporarily, which will be a sort of summoning contract where Alex will use his chakra to form himself outside in the real world.

Before you all go and say that Naruto wouldn't survive it, I'm planning to have Alex leave behind a piece of himself in the seal. If you all like this chapter so far, let me know and stay tuned.


End file.
